Tara Thaila Black
by awpotdc
Summary: What if Sirius Black had a daughter, who knew about him, and was friends with Harry in Hogwarts? Tara’s history and Harry’s time in Hogwarts from Tara’s POV x
1. Before Azkaban

Chapter One – Before Azkaban

A/N: This is one of the few chapters that will be told in the third person.

Sirius was on edge. He was pacing the living room, looking anxiously outside at the setting sun. Peter had said he'd stop by after calling in on the Potters with news about their wellbeing. He said he'd stop by thirty minutes ago.

His wife, Thaila, entered the room, and set a small blonde headed girl down in a playpen. She crossed the room to her husband and placed her hands on his shoulders, preventing him from pacing the length of the room again. "You know where they're hiding," she whispered to her husband. "Go and check on them yourself. I can feel you itching to go and make sure everything's OK."

Sirius looked over at his daughter, playing quietly in her pen with coloured building blocks. "It's Tara's second birthday," he replied, "I can't just leave."

"Sirius, my dear," said Thaila. "She's two. In twelve years time she won't care what you were doing her second birthday. Go and check on Peter first. Make sure he's OK. Then go to see James and Lily. But," she added, holding onto Sirius' arm before he disapparated;"be careful. You don't want Voldemort following you to their home."

Sirius leaned in and kissed Thaila gently on the lips. "Don't worry. I'll take care. I love you."

With that he disapparated. A scared tear rolled down Thaila's cheek. "I love you too," she whispered.

A sound from Tara's playpen made Thaila turn around. Tara had built herself a tower of bricks, and then knocked them down again. Thaila moved over to the playpen and picked hers and Sirius' daughter out from it. Carrying her in one arm, Thaila sat down on the sofa with Tara on her knee. She pulled her daughter towards her and whispered into her hair, "One day, baby, one day all this will be over. I promise." She kissed Tara on the head, and Tara turned to giver her mother as big a hug as a two year old can give. Tara cuddled into her mother, and Thaila began rocking her daughter, humming a lullaby to her.

XXX

She didn't realise it, nor intend it, but Thaila Black fell asleep, with her daughter on her lap. She awakened to the sounds of popping in her living room. Tara remained asleep. Thaila opened her eyes to face Bartemius Crouch and Albus Dumbledore.

Being cautious so as not to wake Tara, Thaila laid Tara down on the sofa and stood up to meet Mr Crouch and Dumbledore at eye level. "What's going on?" she asked. "Has something happened to Sirius?"

Dumbledore placed his hands gently upon Thaila's shoulders. "Thaila," he said quietly. "I am afraid your husband has been sent to Azkaban Prison."

Thaila stared at Dumbledore. After a few moments she asked, "Why on earth would you send him to Azkaban? He's done nothing wrong!"

"Mrs. Black," said Mr. Crouch. "Were you aware that Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper for the location of the Potters?"

"What? No! He wasn't the Secret Keeper!" Thaila was still reeling from the news that her husband had been sent to the Wizarding Prison.

"Thaila," said Dumbledore calmly. "As far as the Ministry is aware, Sirius Black was indeed the Secret Keeper for the Potters. Unfortunately, tonight, he revealed where his loyalties truly lie. He gave up the secret of the Potters whereabouts to Lord Voldemort."

Mr. Crouch visibly shuddered at the name.

Thaila just stared wildly at Dumbledore. "No," she said. "He would never have done that! James is his best friend. He wasn't even the Secret Keeper!"

"I am afraid all evidence points to the contrary, Mrs. Black," replied Mr. Crouch. "After You-Know-Who murdered James and Lily Potter," – tears began streaming down Thaila's cheeks at his sentence – "Another friend of yours, Peter Pettigrew tracked down Sirius Black, accused him of selling the Potters out to Voldemort, in front of a street full of witnesses," he added, seeing Thaila shake her head, "Then your husband destroyed Peter Pettigrew. I am sorry," he added, almost as an afterthought. "We never thought it would come to this."

With that, Mr. Crouch disapparated. Dumbledore guided Thaila back to sit down on the sofa next to her still sleeping daughter. "Sirius was the last person we would have expected to sell his best friend out to Voldemort. I cannot begin to understand what you must be going through. Just know that the rest of us are still here for you, Thaila."

Thaila, her face now pale from the shock of Sirius being sent to Azkaban, turned to Dumbledore and asked, "Are Lily and James really dead?"

Dumbledore nodded silently.

"And Harry?"

"Harry is safe. I've sent him to his Aunt and Uncle in Surrey for his protection. It's for the best that he grows up away from the Wizarding world. Something about Harry destroyed Voldemort tonight. Voldemort has disappeared in the light of tonight's events."

"Voldemort's dead?" whispered Thaila.

"I don't believe so, Thaila. Merely weakened. But it was Harry who did it. Harry stopped Voldemort tonight. It's just a shame that he had to lose his parents in the process." Dumbledore paused for a moment. Then as an afterthought he added, "And that you had to lose your husband."

Thaila breathed deeply.

"Is there anyone I can call for you, Thaila?" asked Dumbledore. "Someone to just be with you for a short while?"

Thaila shook her head. "No thank you, Professor Dumbledore. I'll be alright. You and the Order have better things to be doing tonight. Thank you."

"Take care, Thaila. And take care of Tara. Sirius wouldn't have wanted any harm to come to his daughter." And with that, Dumbledore disapparated.


	2. Five Today

Chapter Two – Five Today

A/N: From now on the story shall be told in the first person, through Tara's eyes.

A/N 2: I have made up a few of my own rules for Tara in the Potterverse. Please don't kill me.

A/N 3: This chapter's really lame, sorry.

I rolled over in bed and looked at the clock on my bedside table. It was nine in the morning, which meant that it was my fifth birthday. Jumping out of bed I smiled, pulling my slippers on and I ran to the window. Mum had decorated the garden with carved pumpkins for Halloween today. I opened my window and leaned out, and looking up the long windy lane I could just about make out the top of my friend, Ron Weasley's house.

Still smiling, I ran across the hall to Mum's room and opened the door. She wasn't in there, which meant she must be downstairs. I ran downstairs and found Mum in the kitchen pulling a chocolate cake out of the oven. Mum loves cooking the Muggle way. Granddad's a Muggle chef somewhere in Cornwall, and he taught my Mum to cook.

She turned around and put the cake on the table. "Morning, darling," she said. She came around the other side of the table to where I was standing. She put her arms round me and kissed me on the head. "Happy birthday, Tara," she said into my hair.

I smiled and said, "Happy Halloween, Mum." I love the fact that I'm a witch born on the thirty-first of October. How many magical people can say that? Not very many. And even fewer can say they were born on midnight on Halloween. But I can. "What time are people coming over?" I asked. My grandparents, godfather and the Weasleys from up the road were all coming over for lunch.

Mum pushed two slices of toast and the jam jar towards me and said, "I think Gramma Tillie and Granddad are coming over in an hour. Mrs. Weasley said she'd be here as soon as everyone's awake and I'm not sure what time your godfather is coming over."

I ate my toast and Mum took me upstairs to shower and change. While I was getting changed I heard people Floo in downstairs in the living room. Mum left me to finish getting changed and went down to see who had arrived. The clock said it was half past ten. I finished putting my shoes on and ran downstairs to see who was at the house. I hugged Gramma Tillie and Granddad, and they gave me a present wrapped n red shining paper. I ran to put it outside on the table, and as I did I heard voices coming down the lane outside the house. Smiling, I ran inside shouting, "Mum! Mum! Ron and Ginny and Fred and George and Percy and Mrs. Weasley are coming!"

"Calm down, Tara," Gramma Tillie said. "Or you'll have no play energy left."

I bounced to the front door and opened it ready for when the Weasleys arrived. As I did there was a small pop on the doorstep and my godfather materialised in front of me. "Uncle Remus!" I shouted, throwing my arms around him in a hug. I loved my godfather. Remus Lupin was like a father to me. Mum told me she asked him to be my godfather when my first set of godparents died, but she wouldn't tell me who they were. Remus was more like a father to me than my real father, but then my Dad was in Wizard prison. I can't remember anything about Dad. He went to Azkaban when I was two. Mum liked telling me about him, and I liked to listen. She said he was put in Azkaban for turning Harry Potter's parents over to Voldemort. But she also told me that it wasn't true, that he was innocent of that. The only part Mum wasn't sure about was whether he killed his friend Peter Pettigrew or not.

The Weasleys soon came round the corner and I invited them into the house. My fifth birthday party was starting.

XXX

After everyone had had food to eat, Mum brought the cake out. I was sat between Remus and Ron. Mum put the cake down in front of me and magically lit the candles. I looked around as everyone started singing Happy Birthday. My father may have been in Azkaban, but I had real friends, and a real family. I was completely happy.

As the song drew to a close, I took in a breath and felt the heat from the candles on my face. I blew the candles out …

At least that's what I intended to do.

As I breathed out, the whole garden table set alight. Screaming, everyone including me jumped back. Mum, Remus, Gramma Tillie and Mrs. Weasley started putting the fire out with their wands. The Weasleys soon calmed down, but I ran straight into the house and upstairs.

I did it.

Somehow, even though I was five, without being in possession of a wand, I'd breathed fire. The reverse of what I'd intended to do, which was blow the candles out.

I heard everyone leaving via Floo powder and the front door downstairs, and I could hear my Mum apologising. A little while after I heard footsteps on the stairs and Mum came into my room.

"Tara?" she said. "How are you feeling?"

She didn't ask me what happened. She just asked me if I was OK. I thought that was a little strange. "You don't think I did it?"

Mum smiled. "Oh, honey, I know you did it. I had a feeling power like this would come to you. I'm just making sure you're alright."

"Why did I do it? I didn't have a wand. You need a wand to do magic." I didn't understand what Mum was saying.

"Tara, you are very special. You have become what are known as a Sorcerer or Sorceress in your case. Born at midnight on the thirty-first of October. The most powerful moment in time. There's nothing wrong with you. You'll learn to control your powers, and more power shall become available to you." She kissed me on the forehead. "I love you," she added. "Sirius would have been so proud of you."


	3. Lineage

Chapter Three – Lineage

A/N: I'm still not happy with chapter two but it needed to be done. This chapter I am much more pleased with though  Not as good as chapter one, but I do like it. Took a lot longer because I hit a bit of writer's block with it (you'll understand why when you read it), and university work got in the way. But here it is 

Two years and a bit went by. Mum had spent a lot of that time writing letters, and attending 'interviews' as she called them. I didn't know what she was trying to do, but I spent a great deal of my time either with Remus or the Weasleys.

I was seven. Mum had been right. It hadn't taken me long to gain control of the breathing fire thing. Now, in addition to that, I could also levitate small, light, inanimate objects. I struggled with much heavier than a large notepad. My memory was improving. Getting better and better every day. I discovered I could unlock locked doors and chests by simply touching my right thumb to the keyhole and twisting it gently to the right. Needless to say Fred and George weren't too impressed when they caught myself, Ron and Ginny taking it turns to ride their brooms. I'd become used to the power. I found out I could do new things every day.

One cold morning in December, after I'd spent three nights in a row at the Weasleys, I heard Mum talking with Molly and Arthur downstairs in the Weasleys kitchen. Careful so as not to awaken the rest of the house, I crept downstairs (a task in itself for the stairs were creaky; I found out I could hide any sound I made if I wanted) and stood just out of sight where I could hear Mum and the Weasley parents talking.

"Are you sure you want to take her there Thaila?" Arthur was saying. "She's only seven. The effect of the place on a small child … She'll be terrified."

"She has a right to meet him, Arthur. It's taken over two years for me to get this permission. I'm not going to let the chance slip away because my daughter _may _get scared."

I'd already worked out they were talking about me, but where was Mum planning on taking me? Why would I be afraid? I'm not afraid of anything – except the possibility that a Sorcerer can turn evil a lot easier that a normal witch or wizard.

"She's lived five years without him in her life," said Molly. "Why can't she spend the rest of her life without him? He's a murderer; you want to put a seven year old girl in a room with a murderer?"

They were talking about Dad. My Dad. In Azkaban. Mum had been trying to get me permission to visit Azkaban to meet my father. I didn't know whether I wanted to. I had a lot of questions about my Dad. I had no memories. Just photographs. But he was supposed to have killed thirteen people with a single curse. Mum had always been adamant that he wasn't working for Voldemort, and I believed her for that. But over the years I'd developed a strong belief that my father had murdered all those people. I'd never told anyone who my father was. His name was too well known in the Wizarding world. All I ever told people was that he was in prison, and I didn't know what for. A small white lie was better than the truth.

I listened back in on the conversation. Mum was saying, "We have permission to visit Azkaban on Christmas Day. For one hour. In a room where no magic can be performed. No Dementors will be present, and there will be two Ministry officials guarding the single door. She will be safe."

"Does Tara want to meet her father?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "Does she ever talk about him? Or ask about him?"

It sounded to me like Molly wanted it to be my decision; that she thought Mum was going to _make _me go to Azkaban.

"She never asks about him," said Mum. "But I know she's curious. He's her father for crying out loud. Don't you think she deserves to meet him at least once in her life?"

Taking a deep breath, I walked into the kitchen and said, "I don't know if I want to meet Dad or not."

Mum came over and put her arms around me. "It's up to you, sweetheart. But remember, the chance to meet your father, it won't come up again while he's in Azkaban. We've been given permission to see him Christmas Day, and the Ministry needs to know our answer by Christmas Eve, otherwise they won't let us see him, OK?"

I nodded. "So I have three days to decide?" I asked.

"Don't rush," was all Mum said. "Think about it."

XXX

I did think about it. A lot. My Dad. I had no memories of what he was like as a father. And now I was seven and being told to decide whether I wanted to see him or not. How do you go about thinking about something like this?

I couldn't remember Dad. I was two when he was sent to Azkaban. I wanted memories like those the Weasley children had – a father willing to play with his children.

I didn't make my final decision until Christmas Eve.

XXX

Mum asked me what I wanted to do; she reminded me we had to let the Ministry know by midnight what I was going to do. I made my choice in that split second

XXX

I awoke early Christmas morning. My usual instinct on Christmas Day was to run into Mum's room and wake her up, bouncing on the bed yelling that it was Christmas Day and I wanted to go open presents. She'd tell me to wait until I'd eaten breakfast, at which I'd run downstairs, grab a slice of bread, fling it in the toaster and eat it dry on my way up the stairs, then pull Mum out of bed (she'd usually gone back to sleep while I mde toast).

But not this year.

This year I remained in bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking. Had I made the right decision about today? Was Mum happy or upset with what I'd chosen to do?

I heard footsteps outside my door, but lay in bed still. A soft knocking was heard at the door, and Mum let herself into my room. "Are you awake?" she asked, quietly.

"Yeah I'm awake," I replied. My eyes remained on the ceiling.

"Are you alright?" asked Mum. "This is the first Christmas in … ever that you haven't woken me up at the crack of dawn."

"I'm fine." Taking my eyes of the ceiling I looked at Mum. She didn't look as though she believed me. "Honest," I added.

"Are you worried about whether you made the right decision about today?"

Silently, I nodded.

Mum sighed. "Well, if you get up now, we can have breakfast, presents, and then when you're ready we'll go to Azkaban to see Sirius."

XXX

Time flew. As much as I liked my presents, I couldn't get excited about it being Christmas day. I was too nervous about meeting my father.

My family was going to be together for the first time in five years. Mum, my Dad, and me. In the same room. Not alone; there were going to be Aurors guarding the door, but it'd still be family.

Mum was soon holding a box of Floo powder out in front of me, telling me it was time. Taking a deep breath, I took a handful and threw it into the flames. They turned green. It took all of my courage to step into the fireplace and say, "Azkaban."


	4. Azkaban

Chapter Four – Azkaban

_A/N: Haha! I left a cliff-hanger last chapter. Am so proud. Didn't think I'd leave any … Am happy with last chapter. This one's been difficult but interesting to write. I had to get into Tara's skin well and truly, but I like it._

I stepped out of the fireplace in the Wizarding Prison, and felt a wave of coldness wash over me. My fears rose to the top of my mind, my panic about meeting my father became greater and greater. Mum had told me the Dementors that guarded this place would make me feel like this, but what I actually _felt _was a lot worse than I could ever have imagined. I heard someone Floo in behind me, and Mum placed her hands protectively on my shoulders.

"Are you alright?" she whispered.

I nodded. I couldn't bring myself to speak. The feel of this place was horrible. I wondered to myself why I'd ever agreed to come and see my father. Shaking myself, I realised it was the Dementors making me feel like this; their effect on me, bringing my worst fears and memories and thoughts to mind.

Mum squeezed my shoulders and led me into a small office off to the left of the room we'd Flooed into. As she shut the door behind her I instantly felt better. I suddenly realised how stupid I'd been – the Ministry officials who worked in Azkaban wouldn't let themselves remain constantly under the influence of Dementors. Charms and spells must have been placed all around this room to keep the power of the Dementors out. The office was tiny. All it contained was a desk, a spindly looking chair, a sofa with a sleeping bag upon it and a door that must have led to another part of the prison. And an aging man sat upon the spindly chair.

He looked up at Mum and me from the file he was reading on his desk and said, "Yes? May I help you?"

"Thaila and Tara Black here to see Sirius Black," Mum said, sounding professional. I'd never heard her talk that way before. It was really strange.

The man checked through the single file in the room and nodded his approval. "Ah, yes. Thaila Tillie Black and daughter, Tara Thaila Black here to see one Sirius Orion Black, convicted of treason and murder?"

Hearing this stranger say all this about my father as though it were mentioned casually every day scared me a little. It seemed like people locked away in Azkaban were just there because there was no where else for criminals to go. But then I remembered the feeling the Dementors had given me when I first got here …. I shivered.

Mum nodded. I wondered if she'd picked up on my shiver.

The Ministry official led us through the door behind him into a room which was possibly smaller than the tiny office we'd just been stood in. It looked like a Muggle police cell; four grey walls, one door which I knew would later be guarded by two Ministry officials, a small desk in the centre of the room, two chairs against the wall nearest the door and another scary looking chair with shackles attached to it against the other wall. I realised suddenly that that was where the prisoners would sit when talking to visitors.

The Ministry official asked us, "Will this room suit your requirements for conversing with the prisoner?"

Mum told him it would; she was obviously supposed to agree. I looked up at her, and she smiled at me. Feeling better I sat down on one of the chairs nearest the doors. Mum sank down next to me, and I heard her breathing deep, calming breaths. It hadn't occurred to me that maybe she was scared too. I took her hand and squeezed it, the way she sis with me when I was afraid. She smiled weakly at me again, and I watched the Ministry official walk over to the chair with shackles and give it a tap with his wand. The chair sank into the floor.

I randomly wondered where the second Ministry official was, but my question was soon answered when the chair arose in its original place a few moments later, a man sat in it, and another man checking all of the fastenings materialised with it.

The Ministry official who'd brought us into the room said, "I shall be just outside the door, and Hemmingway here will be just inside the door. When the door closes you have sixty minutes."

I heard the door click.

_A/N 2: I know …. Another cliff-hanger … But the next chapter is in progress as I post this. Don't panic. It'll be here soon. I just felt like being nasty and posting Tara actually meeting her father and talking to him in a different chapter. Here goes nothing …_


	5. Daddy Dearest

Chapter Five – Daddy Dearest

_A/N: This chapter's going to be shortish too sorry … but I wanted the meeting in a separate chapter. I hope it's good._

I heard the door click.

The man in the chair stared at us, frowning. He had shoulder length, dark, matted hair, and dark eyes … dark eyes that looked like mine. His skin was incredibly pale from the lack of sunlight in the last five years. He was thin … very much so.

Mum's breath caught in her throat. I don't know when she saw him last, but I had a feeling she hadn't expected him to look this bad.

Dad.

I didn't know what to do, or say. How do you talk to someone you can't remember? Even if they are a family member? I never usually had a problem with people, but this was my _Dad._

My father twisted in his seat as much as the restraints would let him. "Thaila," he stated, in a raspy voice that sounded like it hadn't been used in the last five years. "What are you doing here? What's Tara doing here?"

I drew in a breath. He recognised me.

"She wanted to see you Sirius." Mum was looking at Dad, and I could see in her face how much she still loved him, even after all those years apart.

My father took a deep breath and looked at me. "So you're seven now?" He leaned his head back against the head rest of the chair. "Great father I've been to you, kid. Locked away in here for something I didn't do."

Something stirred inside me; something very deep, connected to the Sorceress in me. I finally found my voice. "Wh-what do you m-mean s-something you di-didn't do?" My voice sounded quiet and weak in this small echoey room.

"Sirius, please," Mum said, quickly. "Don't start that again. Don't go playing with her head. You know why you're here."

"Doesn't mean I did it," Dad rasped.

The Sorceress in me was trying to tell me something. But I couldn't quite grasp at it.

My father was looking at me again. "I can't believe I've had to miss you growing up, kid. You look like your mother. Always did." He paused a moment, apparently thinking. Then he added, "You end up a Sorceress?" A smile crept across his face, revealing yellowing teeth. For a moment I recognised the man from the photographs we had at home.

"How did you know?" I asked, amazed that even from miles away in Azkaban he still knew I'd have the special abilities that I did.

"There was always a chance. Midnight, October thirty-first. A bit of Wizarding blood …. Your basic ingredients for a Sorceress. What can you do?" he asked. That simple sentence sounded like the father I'd imagined … the one I'd wanted in my life from the beginning.

I didn't know what to tell him. "I can levitate some stuff," I said quietly. "Unlocking padlocks and doors and things." I didn't want to tell him about the incident at my fifth birthday. I was still sore from that two years on. George, Fred, Ron and Ginny still teased me about it.

"Wish I could help you learn how to use your abilities," said my father, almost wistfully. "But I'm stuck here."

"Sirius," I heard Mum warn him in a tone she used on me when I was very close to getting into serious trouble.

Sneaking a look at my watch, I realised it was half past. We still had thirty minutes. That feeling from inside me was there again. I still couldn't pinpoint what it was. I must have phased out for a moment because I heard Dad telling Mum, "I'm not the one who should be in here Thaila. I know you know that. Deep down inside, you know that. You just don't want to believe it. You've spent too much time convincing yourself that I'm guilty, but I'm not."

"I don't know what to believe, Sirius," Mum said.

There was silence. So Dad thought he was innocent. No, he couldn't be. There were witnesses. It must be the effect of Azkaban playing on his mind. I realised with a shock that the Dementors reach didn't extend to this room either.

I wanted to say something to Dad. Anything, but I didn't know what there was to say. He'd asked me the previous questions. I was too nervous around him to volunteer any information, or put forward any questions.

Dad seemed to read my mind, because he said, "I'm a bit of a disappointment aren't I? Stuck in here, missing out on your life. Believe me it's not my choice. If I could have my way, the right person would be imprisoned in here, not me, and I'd be watching you grow up, live your life, make friends. I'd be a part of your life. Not some hidden away part you're ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed," I said, perhaps a little too quickly.

Dad looked at me sceptically. "No?" he asked. "How many of your friends have you told about me?"

I was silent. None, I thought to myself, guiltily.

"I thought so," Dad added.

I felt Mum squeeze my hand again. I don't know if she did it for me or her, but it made me feel better. I glanced at my watch again. Five minutes left. I decided to just some out and tell him, "I wish you weren't in here. I wish you were at home with us too."

I watched Dad smile. A true smile. "Thankyou," was all he said.

The Ministry official in the room chose that moment to inform us that our time was up.

"Bye, Dad," I whispered. I'd probably never see him again.

The Ministry official tapped Dad's chair with his wand, and disappeared with the chair. Mum breathed out a long breath, took my shoulder and said, "Let's go home shall we?"

I nodded.

XXX

Christmas passed slightly quieter than usual. Remus came around for Christmas dinner, and he didn't bother me so much as usual. I assumed Mum must have told him what we'd done in the day.

It wasn't until later on that evening, when I was lying in bed, that I realised what that feeling had been inside me when I was talking to Dad. I knew it stemmed from the Sorceress powers in me, but I'd never noticed it before. It must have been a new ability that was developing. But there wasn't a doubt into my mind as to what I realised in that moment and there was nothing I'd be able to do about it for many years to come.

Dad had been telling the truth.

_A/N 2: There you go up by the end of the night :D Well its 2321h here in good old UK. There's going to be around …ooh … three or four more chapters now before Tara goes to Hogwarts to meet Harry and co. _

_A/N 3: Tara won't be able to do anything about knowing her Dad was telling the truth about being innocent. I just wanted to set the groundwork ready for her third year in Hogwarts. But she'll be seeing him again sooner than people think (I am so mean)._


	6. The Worst Things Happen

Chapter Six – The Worst Things Happen to the Nicest People

_A/N: I am sorry in advance for what I am about to do. Please forgive me._

_A/N 2: I considered writing this chapter from many points of view. I've decided third person was the best. I could portray this from all angles then, but I think it ended up being mainly Thaila's POV.  
_

Thaila watched her daughter grow over the next year. She watched her become more and more powerful every day, and yet Tara maintained such control over her gifts that Thaila's early feelings of Tara turning dark were quelled. Tara had become a beautiful, kind, loving young girl. Her meeting with her father hadn't changed her personality at all.

After that meeting Tara had asked a lot of questions, especially about the evidence there was against Sirius. Thaila had answered as best she could, but she did not have all the answers, and Tara had understood this.

Thaila watched her daughter play in the garden with Ron and Ginny on brooms, bewitched so they could fly no higher than two metres (they'd all gotten too big for toy brooms). Smiling, she pointed her wand at the sink and the dishes began washing themselves. She pointed her wand again at the dustpan and the floor started to clean itself. There were definitely some upsides to being a witch.

Thaila put her hand to her head. Since that trip to Azkaban with Tara a year ago she'd been suffering terrible headaches. Remus Lupin had been trying to convince her to go to St. Mungos to get it checked, but Thaila had insisted that she'd be wasting their time. She hadn't openly complained after that.

Blinking, Thaila put her hand down and looked out of the window again. In the background she heard someone Floo into the living room, but she was too busy watching her daughter and friends' children play tag on broomsticks. A comforting hand fell upon Thaila's shoulder, and she turned to look at Remus. He looked considerably paler than he had a few days ago. But then, the moon had just passed.

"Hey, Remus," she said, hugging her old school friend. "How was the moon?"

Smiling Remus said, "That Wolfsbane potion is amazing. You can keep control of your mind, and know exactly what's going on around you, yet your body and senses are still that of a wolf. I was perfectly safe." Remus was quiet for a moment. "When it becomes available to the public I shan't be able to experience it again. It takes a skilled potions brewer to make it, and I haven't the money to buy it. I'm just lucky the Ministry allowed me to be a lab wolf."

Thaila hugged her friend again sympathetically. "I'll help you Remus," she started, but Remus interrupted.

"No, Thaila, You have a daughter to think of and take care of. My … problem … shouldn't become your problem. It's my fault I got myself bitten." Remus looked out of the window at Tara, Ron and Ginny.

Thaila turned her head to look outside too. Tara had removed the jinx from her broom and was able to fly as high and as far as she wished. Sighing, from both the pain in her head and exasperation, Thaila pushed open the door and ran out to the garden shouting, "Tara Thaila Black bring that broom right back here this instant!"

Tara turned on her broom, high in the air, and thought to herself; whoops, should have seen that coming. She brought the broom down to the ground, dismounted and handed it to her mother. "I just wanted a bit of fun," she said innocently.

Thaila smiled at her daughter and playfully tapped her on the head. "Behave," she said. "First and last warning." Pulling her wand out of her pocket, Thaila prepared to re-jinx the broom, but an overwhelming dizzy spell took a hold of her and she dropped the broom.

"Mum?" Tara asked uncertainly.

Thaila placed her hand to her head. She felt nauseous. She fell to her knees and brought her lunch up on the grass.

Remus ran out from the house.

There were small amounts of blood in the vomit. "Oh Merlin," she whispered, as another dizzy spell took her. The pain in her head was searing.

"MUM!" Tara was screaming.

Ron and Ginny were standing against the opposite garden wall with pale, panic stricken faces.

Thaila felt Remus' hands on her shoulders. The pain in her head intensified. "Remus," she struggled to whisper. "Mungos …"

Remus rapped Tara's broom with one hand, supporting Thaila with the other. "_Portus_," he whispered. The broom glowed blue and trembled. Then it stopped. "Tara, Ron, Ginny, get your hands on that broom in the next twenty seconds," he ordered.

The three children ran to the broom and placed their hands on it silently. Tara was crying desperately, her eyes never leaving her mother.

As the Portkey took the children to St. Mungos, Remus clung Thaila tight and Disapparated after them.

XXX

Remus arrived at St. Mungos at the same time as the children. The reception area was fairly busy, but Remus pushed his way to the front of the queue to the reception desk after ordering the children to stay put. "She's dying," he said to the blonde witch behind the desk. "It looks like something natural."

Suddenly, from the other side of the room, Tara fell to the floor, screaming and crying.

Thaila stopped vomiting and went limp in Remus' arms.

"NO! MUM!" Tara was screaming.

Remus lay Thaila on the floor and pointed his wand at her, muttering all kinds of spells.

Healers in the room rushed over to where Thaila had been laid on the floor, pushing Remus away.

Tara got up and went to run to her mother.

Remus grabbed her, tears streaming down his own face.

Tara kicked and screamed, but there was nothing anyone could do.

At eight years of age, Tara Thaila Black had lost her mother to a brain haemorrhage.

_A/N 3: Again I am so sorry. Feel free to hate me. Thaila didn't deserve to die and I hated taking her life so suddenly._

_A/N 4: Thankyou Gaze of Sea, RingosGarden, SerendipityDoo, angelcity, WaveRider 53, furrylittleproblem, griffindorlioness81088 for having faith in the story to put me on alerts …. Though you all probably hate me right now._


	7. He Had A Right To Know

Chapter Seven – He Had a Right to Know

_A/N: Thankyou Beth-Elaine and Liljean15690 for adding me as an alert!_

_A/N 2: We're back to Tara's POV again now. I wrote this on a train journey from university to go and see my boyfriend heehee. Should have written Tara meeting Harry on the train …. Shame I'm not that far …_

Mum had been gone for a week. I'd spent much of that week sat in Ginny's room on the bed crying. I knew Remus was trying to convince the Ministry that he was capable of bringing me up … I wanted so much to go and live with him, but I didn't see how it was possible. I highly doubted the Ministry would allow an eight year old Sorceress to be raised by a werewolf. Remus had asked Molly to take me in if he didn't win the case.

Remus had been brilliant. Mum's funeral had been five days before, and he'd let all her family know … everyone important. Well, almost everyone.

He hadn't told my Dad. Every time I asked him if he'd been to tell Dad about Mum he'd closed up. Dad still thought Mum and me were living outside the prison, the same way we had for eight years. I don't think Remus wanted to tell Dad about Mum. I know he and Dad were close friends through Hogwarts, and I think Remus still felt betrayed by what Dad had supposedly done, even though after my meeting with him I felt he'd been telling us the truth, that he was innocent.

Ron and Ginny were almost as upset as I was about Mum. They'd seen her die, as had I. Ron kept coming and sitting in Ginny's room with me, never saying anything, just sitting with me, and holding my hand. I think he was trying to be supportive, and it helped, having me best friend with me while I cried, knowing he hated it too.

My magic had been weak this week. I guessed they must be connected to my emotions somehow. Not that I'd tried doing much. I'd tried simple things like levitating a pencil, and it had just rolled off the desk.

I was sat in Ginny's room again, looking out of the window, watching Ron and Ginny fly round on their brooms in the garden. They'd asked me but I wasn't bothered. I didn't feel like doing anything. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and knew it was Molly Weasley.

She knocked gently on the door, and entered, carrying a bowl of chicken soup. She set it on the table next to me and asked, quietly, "How are you feeling today, dear?"

I picked up the spoon and started stirring it round gently in my soup. "OK I guess. Has Remus told you anything about what happened in the Ministry today?" I wanted to know if he'd gotten custody of me or not yet. Mum had named him my godfather, but that didn't mean I was necessarily able to go and live with him.

"Nothing yet, dear," Molly replied.

I nodded. Molly was stroking my short hair gently. I was quiet for a moment then asked, He's not going to go and tell my Dad is he?"

Molly withdrew her hand, and I looked at her. I could tell she was thinking of how best to answer the question.

I answered it for her. "He doesn't want to see Dad does he? He hates him." I paused for a moment. "Someone has to tell him."

Molly put her hand on my shoulder. "Tara, sweetheart, your father will never be allowed to leave Azkaban. Not after what he did. You know what Azkaban is like. You've been there. Your worst fears come to life. If your father is told that his wife is … not around any more, the grief might overcome him. As much as he is a criminal, you don't want that for your father do you?"

I sat quietly, thinking. Molly left after a while. What she'd told me made sense. If I told Dad about Mum, he might take it as badly as I did, and the Dementors would keep bringing it to the surface, and I'd be left without any parents at all.

But he still had a right to know.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't have an owl to send to Dad, and I didn't want to use the Weasley's owl, Errol, because he was old, and I was afraid I'd kill him trying to tell Dad Mum was gone. Remus wouldn't go and tell him. I asked Arthur if Dad would be told at some point, and Arthur said it was the family's choice whether or not to inform those in Azkaban that their loved ones were gone.

I spent a few days wondering what to do, and coming to the realisation that it was becoming less and less likely that I'd be able to live with my godfather. I felt so useless, so helpless. I didn't have my Mum to confide in any more either to make me feel better.

All I wanted was for someone to tell my father that my mother was dead, and to go and live with Remus. But things were not going my way at all at the moment.

Until two weeks after Mum's death.

XXX

Remus had called in the night before to check on me. I was definitely getting better; outside anyway. I hated showing my emotions. He'd hugged me and talked to me, and told me that the Ministry had told him he wasn't getting custody of me. And he had twenty eight days to appeal against that decision.

Dad still hadn't been told.

It was lunchtime. I still wanted to spend time by myself even though I was getting better, so I was sat in the Weasley's living room with a Muggle book from home (all my stuff was being stored in a makeshift shed in the Weasley's back garden). Well, not really reading. Thinking about Dad again.

Ron and Ginny came into the room and asked me if I wanted to go up the orchard and practice flying with them. I told them I wasn't in the mood again. They disappeared to go and ask Molly whether it was OK for them to go … leaving me alone downstairs.

I put my book down and did some quick thinking … The fireplace in the kitchen was connected to the Floo Network, and the Weasleys kept their Floo Powder in a flowerpot on top of the mantelpiece. Azkaban was connected to the Floo Network …

I crept up off my seat, and listened carefully upstairs. I heard voices, which I assumed were Ron and Ginny and Molly's.

Perfect.

I sneaked to the kitchen and pulled the flowerpot down. I took a small handful from the pot and replaced the pot.

I looked into the fireplace, and took a deep breath. I stepped inside it, dropped my Floo Powder and said, for the second time in my life, "Azkaban."

_A/N 3: I love being evil. Two cliff-hangers ending with Tara going to see Sirius. We're going to see some of Tara's full abilities next chapter, which even she didn't know she had. _

_A/N 4: Am unsure whether I like this chapter or not. I don't know if I really conveyed how Tara was affected by Thaila's death properly or not. _

_A/N 5: In a lot of fics I read, there are warnings in the summary for character deaths …. Do I have to do that?_


	8. The Bearer of Bad News

Chapter Eight – The Bearer of Bad News

_A/N: Woo another alert! Thanky honeyduck! I'm on a C2 as well …. What's a C2? _

_A/N 2: As I promised, Tara's full abilities are going to be touched this chapter. Just a taster of her powers._

As soon as I fell out of the fireplace a familiar feeling crept over me. Despair, loss … grief. The grief from losing Mum was overwhelming suddenly, and I didn't know how to make it stop. Wait, Tara think, just get yourself to the office, I thought to myself. It wasn't a happy thought so the Dementors couldn't take that away from me.

Picking myself up from the floor I pushed open the door to the office of the Ministry workers and was faced by a man with fuzzy red hair, similar to that of a lion.

He looked at me peculiarly. "Aren't you a little young to be here all by yourself?" he asked, speaking as though I was three and not eight. He got up off his chair and kneeled in front of me. "Now where are your mummy and daddy?" he added, in that same patronizing tone.

"Dad's here. I want to see him." I didn't want to deal with telling people about Mum twice in one day.

"Then why isn't your mummy here?" asked the man.

"I'm not three," I said, "and if you talk to me like I am again, I'll use my magic." It sounded childish, but I was a Sorceress. I had to practise my abilities to gain control of them … Wizarding laws were slightly flexible for individuals like myself.

"You aren't old enough to hold a wand, kid," said the man. "Where do you live? You're going home." He reached a hand out to grab my arm and escort me to the fireplace but he didn't even touch me.

I didn't let him.

My hands crackled with yellow electricity.

I barely touched him and he was thrown against the opposite wall.

"I _have _to see my Dad," I said. My hands had stopped crackling. I didn't even know how I'd thrown the man.

I didn't really care.

"Let me see my Dad." I'd almost forgotten about why I was there. I just wanted to see my own flesh and blood. A parent.

The man straightened himself out. "I'm afraid you're too young to have visitation rights without a wizard or witch who is of age."

I felt myself throw electricity at him again.

"I'm going to see him."

A different kind of energy was forming beneath my skin. I unclenched my fists and a blue force field formed between me and him. "You can't stop me," I whispered. "I need to see him."

I walked into the room I'd spoken to Dad in before and closed the door behind me. I lowered the force field and touched my left hand to the door. My hand glowed blue, then the door glowed blue, and then nothing. The handle on my side of the door started rattling, and I knew the Ministry worker was trying to get in. I heard him using his wand to unlock the door. Somehow I'd been able to lock myself in this room and disallow anyone else from entering.

I looked down at my hands for a moment. I'd hurt someone with my abilities.

Intentionally.

It wasn't the first time I'd thought about the fact that my powers could be used for incredibly dark purposes.

Shaking myself, I remembered why I was in Azkaban. I had to tell Dad Mum was dead. I hadn't really thought this part through. I looked at the chair. I had to summon Dad here, using that chair, but I didn't know how. I walked over to the chair and looked over it. There had to be some way to get it to Dad so I could see him. I thought back to when Mum and I had visited Dad. The Ministry worker then had tapped the chair with his wand. Well, I didn't have a wand, but I was able to channel my magic through my body wasn't I? Taking a breath, I tapped the chair with my right hand and whispered, "Sirius Black."

The chair disappeared, and reappeared moments later, a man, my Dad, sat in the chair, unrestrained by the harnesses. I didn't care.

He looked surprised at the fact that it was me there to see him. "Tara?" he said. "You're here alone? He paused, taking a minute to stand up. "Where's your Mum?"

I couldn't help it. My eyes filled up with tears. I'd thought I was getting better, but I'd just been bottling my feelings up inside. Dad crossed the room and put his arms around me. It was so strange being comforted by my father. I didn't know what to do. All the thoughts I'd had in the last two weeks, every bad moment, just caught u inside of me, and I felt like I was going to cry forever. I was too young to have lost a parent, and yet here I was, with next to no parents, trying to be the grown up I wasn't.

"What's the matter, kid?" Dad asked me, softly, his arms still around me.

I sniffed, pulled away from him and said, "Dad … Mum's gone."

Dad looked at me as though it was obvious I was lying. "What do you mean … gone?" he said his voice barely a whisper.

"Sh-she had a … brain haemorrhage or something. Two weeks ago." My tears were beginning to cease now. I couldn't tell how Dad was taking it. "Dad? Are you OK?"

He visibly shook himself, then said, "I'm fine, Tara. More worried about what's happening to you now. Where are you going?"

He was lying. He wasn't OK. But I passed it over and told him about our original plans for me to stay with Remus. "… but I can't because he's a werewolf. There's even a potion now he can get that makes him safe around the full moon. I could learn to make it. I don't understand why I can't go and stay with him."

Dad was quiet for a moment. A loud bang was heard from the other side of the shielded door. The Ministry worker was still trying to get in. Dad turned me to face me towards himself. "Try Muggle adoption agencies. They won't find anything wrong with Remus. Do it within a week or so and the Ministry of Magic won't be able to stop you living with him then. Take care, my daughter," he said, kissing me on the forehead. "And Thankyou. For telling me about your mother."

I could feel my shield crumbling around the door. I went over to the chair Dad was now sat on and tapped it again. It disappeared and returned moments later empty. My shield around the door collapsed. Two Ministry workers entered, their wands pointing towards me. "We're taking you home," the red haired man said.

I threw my arms forward and the yellow electricity from before threw them back against the wall. "Leave me alone," was all I said. I strode past them as they picked themselves up, entered the Azkaban fireplace and went back to the Burrow.

XXX

I got into a lot of trouble for running off like that. I felt better now, knowing that my father had been told about Mum. I spoke to Remus about Muggle adoption agencies, and within four days it was sorted out. It seemed too easy, just going to a Muggle agency, but Remus had been checked out as a worthy legal guardian of me, and by adopting me the Ministry had no control now over where I went to live. Remus was technically my father.

I took a year learning how to make the Wolfsbane Potion. It was not the easiest potion in the world to make. Especially for a nine year old. But I mastered it, and was soon able to stay in the house at a full moon, instead of being Flooed to the Weasley's for three nights.

Surprisingly the Ministry didn't contact us about the incident at Azkaban. I imagined it was because the workers on duty were embarrassed that an eight year old had gotten her way.

After I'd learnt to make the potion I didn't see the Weasleys so much. I stayed in contact through owls, but they never visited me and I only visited once or twice.

I turned eleven, and received my Hogwarts letter. I couldn't believe I was finally able to go to school. Remus and I arranged for the Wolfsbane Potion to be delivered direct from an apothecary during term time, as I was going to be unable to make it in school (Remus didn't want me not doing homework because I was making his potion). I knew Ron would be starting too this year, and sooner than I knew it, September 1st came around.

_A/N 3: Sorry that chapter's a little rushed. But at least we're going to Hogwarts now … I don't plan on changing any of the plot line at all in this story, just adding an extra character to the mix. Am not overly keen on this chapter, but I will get better I promise!_


	9. Old Friends And a New One

Chapter Nine – Old Friends … and a New One

_A/N: So many people have faith in this story. I thought I was being silly writing and posting this. Thankyou to Haunted! Thankyou everyone who's reading this. This chappy's gonna be long methinks. _

Typically, a Wolf Moon fell upon September the first. Three days and nights out of a month, Remus turned into a wolf, and as luck would have it, the moon fell on September first. Remus and I had said our goodbyes the night before he'd transformed. I'd make my own way to Kings Cross to get on the Hogwarts Express, to finally attend Hogwarts.

I awoke early the morning I was due to leave for Hogwarts. I got up, showered and changed then went downstairs and made sure things were left out for Remus when he changed back. As much as he was a safe-ish wolf under the influence of the Wolfsbane, I was under strict orders to not take any chances. I wasn't planning on being at Kings Cross until half past ten, but it took an hour for me to get there by Muggle taxi … which was my plan on getting to the station.

XXX

The taxi got me to Kings Cross for twenty five past ten. I paid the Muggle, and placed my trunk on a trolley. Remus had told me how to get onto platform nine and three-quarters, so I walked up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, and found myself on a hidden platform, tingling with magic. Standing at the platform was a scarlet steam engine, with several coaches attached behind it, and hundreds of students were swarming around the platform with their families, saying goodbye.

I felt a small pang of guilt at the fact that Remus was shut up in the house alone tonight, but then, I told myself, I deserved to come to Hogwarts. At least I hoped I did.

I wandered down towards the end of the train, and pulled my trunk into an empty compartment, thinking that if I didn't see Ron until I got to Hogwarts, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

I'd just settled down when a boy, around my age, with untidy black hair and glasses appeared, carrying his snowy owl. He looked slightly familiar to me, although I couldn't think where I might have seen him before.

He glanced at me as if he hadn't seen me sat there (well I was sat behind the door) and mumbled, more to himself than me, "I'll go and find an empty …"

"You can sit in here," I said quickly. "I don't think I'm that scary."

The boy apparently sighed with relief and put his owl down on the seat next to the window. Being me, I started playing with the owl through the bars. She was a beautiful and friendly owl.

I overheard the boy struggling with his trunk, and got up to give him some help when I heard other voices, "Want a hand?" Now that voice was more familiar than the boy's appearance.

The next thing the voice said hit me like a brick wall. "Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"

Fred and George.

It had really been years since I'd seen them.

Smiling, knowing the boy was in capable hands, I returned to playing with the owl. Well, pretending to play with the owl. The three boys entered the compartment, dragging the trunk. "Need a hand?" I asked innocently, turning towards them.

The twins were a lot taller than they had been he last time I'd seen them. And a lot older … I hadn't seen them since before Mum had died, I'd been eight, they'd been in Hogwarts. They still looked identical; one of the perks of knowing them was being able to tell them apart. George had a birthmark on the right side of his neck. That and I could sense who was who through my abilities.

George stood up straight when he looked at me. "Well of all the people … How are you?"

I grinned. "I'm good." I noticed the black haired boy glancing from the twins to me, looking awkward.

Fred was busy looking at the boy's forehead. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at something on the boy's head.

George moved to look at what Fred was pointing at. "Blimey," he said. "Are you …?"

I was getting confused, but opted to stay quiet.

"He is, aren't you?" Fred continued.

The poor boy was starting to look even more confused than I felt. At least I was used to the twins. "What?" he asked.

"_Harry Potter_," the twins said together.

All was revealed. I'd recognised him because I had photos at home of Mum, and Dad, and their friends. I'd been told that Harry Potter's father and my Dad were best friends, and he'd been pointed out to me on the photographs. Harry looked just like his father. I didn't realise how close in age Harry Potter and I were … but then, no one had told me.

"Oh, him," Harry was saying. "I mean, yes, I am."

He started to go red, probably from the fact that the twins were staring at him with open mouths. I smiled to myself as I heard Molly Weasley call the twins outside for one last goodbye. Harry sat down on the seat opposite and stared determinedly out of the window. I could hear the twins mocking Ron in the background.

"You're Harry Potter?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

Harry nodded in reply.

"That's cool. I'm Tara. Black. Are you starting this year too?"

Another nod. He thought for a moment then asked me, "Do you know those twins?"

Smiling I replied, "I used to live next door to them. For eight years. Then … my Mum died, so I went to live with my godfather. I haven't seen them much since." I left out the parts about Remus being a werewolf and my Dad being in Azkaban, hoping Harry wouldn't ask.

But he did. "How come you didn't go and live with your Dad?"

"He's in prison. I don't want to talk about it," I replied, hoping he'd get the idea. I just didn't want all of what did he do questions from Harry … it was Harry's parents people believed Dad had betrayed.

I could hear Fred and George telling Molly they'd bumped into me and Harry on the train, and I heard Ginny begging Molly to come and see Harry. Harry was shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"So what's it like being famous?" I asked, keeping conversation going.

Harry shrugged. "Didn't even know I was until about a month ago. It's kinda scary," he admitted.

We both jumped as a whistle sounded. The train began to move, pulling out of the station. The door of the compartment slid open and who should enter but Ron. I couldn't resist smiling as he said, "Mind if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full."

Harry shook his head and I said, "Carry on, Ron. Not like you don't know me," I added, poking him with my toe as he walked past.

I noticed Ron sneak a glance at Harry, then look out of the window again pretending he hadn't. I sighed. Ron could still be an idiot sometimes. "Right," I said, "Harry, this is my good childhood friend, Ron Weasley, and Ron, this is my newfound possible friend if he wants to be, Harry Potter. Happy?" I added, looking at Ron. His ears started going red as the twins slid the compartment door open.

"Hey, listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there," Fred informed us.

Ron mumbled something that sounded like, "Right."

"Harry," said George, "Knowing Tara you've already been introduced to our brother, Ron. I'm George and this is Fred. We'll see you later then."

"Bye," said Harry and Ron. I just waved.

The twins had left the compartment door open, and me being lazy flicked my wrist and drew it shut with my magic. It was my turn to go red as Harry looked at me in amazement. Luckily for me, Ron decided to draw attention away from me and blurt out, "Are you really Harry Potter?"

I groaned inwardly. Subtle, Ron, really.

Ron looked a little sheepish. "I thought Fred and George might have been joking …" he started.

"Hey!" I said. "I introduced you. Would I lie to you Ron?" I asked all innocence and smiles.

"Yes."

"OK, good point." I leaned back against the seat and noticed Harry smiling to himself.

Ron was studying Harry again. "Have you really got … you know …" He was waving his hands towards Harry's forehead.

Harry pulled back his fringe, revealing a thin jagged line on his forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt. Even I was impressed.

"I can't remember anything," Harry said quickly, as though he expected us to ask.

Ron looked slightly disappointed. "Nothing at all?"

Harry shrugged. "Just a lot of green light, but nothing else."

Ron was staring at Harry again. I kicked his leg as subtly as I could and he turned to look out of the window again.

"Are both your family's wizards?" Harry asked.

Nodding, I replied, "Mum was half Muggle, half witch … my Gramma Tillie's a witch, Granddad's a Muggle. Dad's a pure-blood wizard."

"And she's a Sorceress," added Ron. Noticing Harry's confusion, he explained briefly, "Being born on midnight at Halloween means you don't use a wand for your magic. You just are magic. It's not even really understood by the Wizarding world either."

I just shrugged. "You saw me shut the door. It's not as great as it sounds."

"I think it's great," said Harry. "Are all your family wizards?" he added, aiming the question at Ron.

"Er … I think so. Mum has a second cousin, who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you two must know loads of magic already," Harry said.

"What about the Muggles you went to live with?" I asked. "What were they like?"

"Horrible," said Harry. "Well, my aunt, uncle and cousin are. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

Ron looked out of the window again. "Five," he said. "I'm the sixth in the family to go to Hogwarts. Bill and Charlie have already left … Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was Quidditch captain. Percy's a prefect, Fred and George mess around a lot, but still get really good grades, and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do it's no big deal because they did it first. I never get anything new either. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat."

"Ouch, you got Scabbers?" I asked, poking at the dead looking fat furry lump in Ron's hand. I love animals but Scabbers is pointless.

It was brilliant, sat in the train with my oldest friend, and now my newest friend. I hoped we'd all be in the same house together; we seemed to get along well. I was already really looking forward to my first year at Hogwarts.

_A/N 2: Hmm … Will have to change the chapter structure, it's too much like to book. I'll work on it for the future. Sorry about the book-like-ness. I'm only just starting … I promise I'll get better._


	10. Sunshine, Daisies, Butter, Mellow

Chapter Ten – Sunshine, Daisies, Butter, Mellow

_A/N: Thankyou everyone who's reading this! I had no idea it was going to be so popular. I love you all! blows kisses_

_A/N 2: I'm sorry this chapter's taken a while. I was trying to find a writing style that didn't use too much of the book quotations. And I started reading some new fanfics. And I managed to get writer's block! On a story with the book open in front of me! How bizarre is that?_

The journey to Hogwarts was a fairly eventful one; more eventful than I'd imagined anyway. Ron had gotten impressed by Harry saying Voldemort's name. I'd rolled my eyes at this; whenever Remus talked about Voldemort he'd always used his name; I guessed this was normal and had always used the name. I was thrilled someone else was using the name.

Harry told us he was worried about not doing ell in Hogwarts, because of his lack of magical background. Ron and I reassured him that many Hogwarts students came from Muggle families, and that Hogwarts was the first time they were ever being exposed to the magical world.

As the train took us into the countryside, a kind looking woman pushing a trolley laden with sweets and chocolates slid our door back and asked us what we wanted. Ron's ears went pink and he said he'd brought sandwiches with him; I knew full well the real reason he didn't want anything was because he couldn't really afford it. I passed on the sweets too; partially to make Ron feel a little better, but mostly because I wasn't a big eater. I tended to eat at mealtimes and that was it. Harry, who had obviously never heard of any of this stuff, treated himself to a bit of everything.

"You hungry or something?" asked Ron, as he watched Harry carry his purchases back to his seat.

"Starving," admitted Harry, grabbing a pumpkin pasty and sinking his teeth into it.

Ron was opening his sandwiches and muttering something about corned beef.

Harry threw a pasty across to him and Ron looked as thought he was about to refuse to offer. I grabbed Ron's sandwiches, screwed them up and chucked them into the tiny bin in the compartment. "Now you have to eat that," I said, "otherwise you'll starve before you get to Hogwarts." I knew what Ron was like – the complete opposite to me when it came to food.

Harry went to pass a pasty to me, but I told him no, I never managed to eat outside of meals unless it was Christmas. I also added to give mine to Ron.

Harry was soon studying a pack of Chocolate Frogs suspiciously.

"What is it?" I asked him.

He looked awkward as he said, Just, tell me they aren't _really _frogs?" he said.

I smiled and said, "Neh, they're just chocolate. But they come with a card with a famous witch or wizard on them. Loads of people collect them."

"Do you collect them?" Harry asked, peeling the wrapper off of his Frog.

"Not really. I don't eat them often enough to collect them. I tend to send my cards to Ron," I nodded towards Ron, who was eyeing up Harry's pile of Chocolate Frogs.

Harry grinned, "Help yourself," as he took the card out from his own Frog. "So _this_ is Dumbledore!"

"Don't tell me you've never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron, around a mouthful of chocolate.

Harry read the back of the card, then turned it back over to look at Dumbledore's image on the front. "He's gone!" he said, sounding surprised.

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. I've got Morgana again; you want it? I've got about six of her. You can start off your collection."

Harry was still staring at the blank image. "In the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Hmm," I said, "but moving ones are so much more interesting. You can see a bit of personality in them then."

Harry's owl began hooting gently. I poked my fingers into the cage and started playing with her feathers again, gently. The three of us sat in comfortable silence for a while, as Harry and Ron poilished off the remains of Harry's Chocolate Frogs. When they were gone, Harry opened his Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and Ron and I warned him to be careful with them. It was fun watching the boys munch their way through the beans. Harry offered me one, but I turned it down. I'm really not a sweet person except at Christmas.

As the beans were losing their originality and fun, a round-faced, worried looking boy entered our compartment asking if anyone had seen a toad.

"Sorry," I replied, as the boys shook their heads. "Last toad I saw was in the garden."

As the boy started crying about losing his toad, Harry hastily added, "He'll turn up. He can't go far on a train."

The boy nodded and wandered off, still sniffling.

"Don't know why he's so bothered. If I'd ended up with a toad I'd have lost is as soon as I could," said Ron.

"But you brought Scabbers," I said, smiling. "He's worse than a toad any day."

Ron pulled his wand out of his trunk and poked Scabbers with it. "He could have died and you'd never know. I tried turning him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting but it didn't work. Want me to show you?"

"Yeah," said Harry enthusiastically. I guess he was seeing proper magic for the first time here, and any magic was interesting to him.

Ron took a breath and the compartment door slid open again. The round-faced boy was back, accompanied by a brown haired girl and large front teeth. "Anyone seen a toad?" she assed, pompously. "Neville's lost his."

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron.

"Are you doing magic?" asked the girl. "Let's see it then."

She entered the compartment and sat down next to Harry.

Ron breathed deeply and waved his wand, saying, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened.

Scabbers continued to sleep.

"I don't think that's a proper spell," I said. "Let me try," I added quietly. I searched my mind for what to do, and gently flicked Scabbers on the nose. He twitched, and as he did, a wave of yellow colour passed all down his body.

"Cool," said Ron, though he sounded a bit annoyed his spell hadn't worked.

I flicked Scabbers on the nose again, and he returned to his grey colour.

"Are you a Sorceress?" asked the girl. "I've read all about them. You have magic in you, and you don't need a wand to channel you magic, which is amazing. I wish I could do magic like that. I've tried a few simple spells for practice and I can do it, but its nothing compared to what you can do. Nobody in my family's magic at all; we were all so happy when I got my letter. I mean, Hogwarts is the best school for witchcraft there is. I've learned all our set books off by heart, I hope it's enough. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?"

I was stunned. I don't think Hermione took a single breath in her entire speech. Harry and Ron were exchanging worried looks.

"I'm Tara Black," I said.

"Ron Weasley," muttered Ron.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

Hermione gasped at this news. "Are you really? I know all about you! You're in some of the books I got for background reading. You're in _Modern Magical History _and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. _Do any of you know what house you'll be in yet? I've been asking around and Gryffindor sounds by far the best. Dumbledore himself was supposed to be a Gryffindor. But Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad either. Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You'd all better change. I expect we'll be there soon."

She and Neville left.

"I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk so much before, in my life," I said.

"I hope I don't end up in the same house as her," muttered Ron, putting his wand back in his trunk.

"What house were your brothers in, Ron," asked Harry.

Ron slumped back into his seat, looking depressed. "Gryffindor. All of them. And Mum and Dad. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not."

I placed my hand on his shoulder reassuringly and said, "You have a good chance of getting in Gryffindor."

"What about you family Tara?" asked Harry.

I was hoping this question didn't come up. I took a breath, preparing for a long string of questions. "Mum's side of my family have been mainly Gryffindors, my Gramma Tillie being and exception, she was a Ravenclaw. Dad was a Gryffindor. The rest of my Dad's family, not so much fun. Most of them ended up in Slytherin."

"That's the house You-Know-Who was in?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately. So I guess it's a debate on who I take after more, Mum or Dad," I replied. Harry asked Ron about Bill and Charlie, trying to take his mind off of houses. I half listened, thinking about my upbringing to myself. The meetings I'd had with Dad made him seem really nice; I could understand Mum loving him and marrying him, but he hadn't really brought me up. Mum had done the first eight years, then I'd gone to live with Remus. On the one hand I had a lot of Gryffindor influence in my upbringing, but then I harnessed this great power, that even I didn't truly understand yet.

I must have gotten lost in my own thoughts, because the compartment door slid open again. Three boys entered; a pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair flanked by two huge boys who looked like they could be his bodyguards or something. Something stirred within me, and I remembered I was distantly related to the middle boy; Malfoy. He was my Dad's cousin's son or something. I'd only met him once before, and I hated him.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you is it?" drawled Malfoy.

"Yes," Harry said uncertainly. There was something in his voice that said he didn't like Malfoy. I didn't blame him. Malfoy was a git.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said Malfoy, motioning to the huge boys with him. Not that I could say I cared much. "And I'm …"

"Draco Malfoy," I cut him off, annoyed with him already.

"Black," drawled Malfoy, as Ron coughed in such a way that sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

Malfoy took that opportunity to turn on Ron. "Think my name's funny do you? Well, there's no need to ask who you are. Red hair and freckles, you must be a Weasley. You'll find out some Wizarding families are better than others, Potter," said Malfoy, turning to Harry again. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand, as though expecting Harry to shake it. Harry just looked Malfoy in the eye and told him, "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself thanks."

I half smiled and added, "Malfoy, as far as your family is concerned the wrong sort is anyone who isn't a pureblood."

Malfoy glared at Harry, Ron and me, and said, "I'd be careful if I were you. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. Hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and Black here and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you."

Ron began threatening Malfoy, but no sooner had he done so than Scabbers took a flying leap and sunk his teeth into Goyle's knuckle. The three boys turned and ran out of the corridor.

The remainder of the journey was fairly uneventful. We arrived at Hogsmeade station and were greeted by a huge, hairy man whom Harry told us was Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Hagrid led the first years to the lake and after we'd all gotten into boats, we sailed across the lake, catching our first glimpse of what was to become our home for the next seven years.

_A/N 3: OK, I admit I rushed the end because I was getting bored. I'm going to do the sorting and then pick out events from the book where Tara will have a major part to play. I really need to get a new style of writing x_


	11. Eeny Meeny Miny Mo

Chapter Eleven – Eeny, Meeny Miny Mo, In Which House Shall You Go

_A/N: I need opinions people! Shall I continue with the style of writing I am using at the moment or do I need to change it so it's more Tara-ish? I've tried changing the style for this chapter a bit …. I quite like it but it's your opinion that matters._

When we'd reached the other side of the lake, we were led up a large flight of stone steps. It seemed kind of foreboding, and I couldn't help but wonder if the whole point was to scare us about the sorting. Remus had told me the sorting consisted of putting a hat on your head and letting it decide where to place you. But the way Hogwarts seemed to be going about it was making a lot of people nervous.

At the top of the stairs, a witch wearing green robes led us through a huge Entrance Hall into a small empty room that I assumed must have been just off from the Main Hall. This really wasn't helping people with nerves. The Professor announced that she was Professor McGonagall, and delivered a speech about the start of term banquet, and told us a tiny amount about the Sorting ceremony, and the four houses we had the potential to be placed in. All of this secrecy was beginning to make the majority of the students even more worried than they had been to begin with.

Harry asked Ron about the Sorting, and Ron said he thought it was some kind of test.

"Silly," I whispered. "Remus told me it's nothing to worry about it … unless you're likely to end up in Slytherin, which is all I'm scared about," I added honestly.

Harry looked as though a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. I think he must have thought we were going to be asked to perform magic or something, which would have been easy for me. Hermione Granger was thinking that way too … she was muttering about all of the spells she knew and wondering which one she'd need. I just rolled my eyes.

Malfoy, I noticed, was leaning calmly against the wall … Knowing Lucius Malfoy (only from reputation) I imagined that he'd told his son everything to expect from his first year in Hogwarts.

Several people behind Harry, Ron and me screamed as ghosts came gliding through the wall, talking animatedly.

"New students!" exclaimed a ghost wearing a ruff and tights. "About to be Sorted I suppose? Hope you're in my old house, Hufflepuff!"

"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to begin." McGonagall had returned to take us to our fate for the next seven years. "Now, form a line, and follow me," she ordered.

We did as she said; I stood behind Ron, who was looking a little ill, who was stood behind Harry. I took two minutes to pray to some deity that Harry, Ron and I were kept together. We were led out of the chamber and into the Great Hall.

Four long tables, almost the full length of the room were stretched out in front of us, and the remainder of the school were sat here. The room was illuminated buy hundreds of candles floating several feet above the tables, and the ceiling had been bewitched to look like to sky outside. There was another long table at the top of the Great Hall, perpendicular to the four (what I assumed were) house tables.

McGonagall led us to the top of the Great Hall, and placed a four legged stool in front of us. Upon it, she placed an extremely worn and dirty hat upon it – the Sorting Hat. Everyone in the Hall was staring at the hat, then suddenly without warning, a rip opened near the brim and the hat burst into song:

_Oh you may not think me pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folks use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. Remus hadn't mentioned that there was a song involved at all, and for a moment I wondered why. I probably would have thought he was joking or something.

I heard Ron whisper to Harry, "So we just have to try on the hat?"

I nudged him and whispered, "Told you there was nothing to worry about."

Professor McGonagall came forward holding a long roll of parchment, and she told us to come forward and place the hat on our heads in order to be sorted. Then she began reading out names.

"Abbot, Hannah!"

Hannah Abbot was sorting into Hufflepuff, and the table on the far right erupted into cheers. I sighed with relief that at least the cheers would indicate –

"Black, Tara!"

Oh crap.

I walked forward and took a deep breath, placing the hat over my head. It fell over my eyes, and I heard a small voice begin talking in my ear.

Hmm … now this is interesting … Plenty of power … but you're very conservative of that power … and you're bright, you'd do well in Ravenclaw, but there's a lot of courage, and loyalty to your friends and family. Your father's side of the family has a trait similar to Slytherins …" My heart skipped a beat as the hat said that, but the hat continued, "… but there is very little of that in you. You'd fit well in all of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor … so where do I put you? … I'd say you're very much like your parents, so I think I'll place you in GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted the last world to the hall, and I sighed with relief. The table on the far let began cheering, and I could see George and Fred grinning at me. I took the hat off my head, and walked over to the Gryffindor table. I sat down and continued to watch the remainder of the sorting.

We were soon joined by Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnigan, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Parvati Patil before Harry's name got called out.

He was sat on the stool for about a minute and a half before the hat made him a Gryffindor. I knew he'd end up in Gryffindor, and I joined the rest of the table applauding his success.

Dean Thomas joined our table too before Ron was made a Gryffindor. I laughed, knowing he'd been fussing over nothing on the train journey.

The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore got to his feet. He smiled and opened his arms, saying, "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thankyou."

He sat back down.

While all the eyes in the Great Hall had been on Dumbledore, the plates on the tables had become loaded with food. As we ate, Harry struck up a conversation with the ghost sat opposite him at the table; the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. The conversation soon turned to our lineage; a topic I wasn't completely comfortable with. It's not easy telling strangers your mum died when you were eight, your father's a convicted criminal so you live with you werewolf godfather/adoptive father.

After we'd eaten, Dumbledore got to his feet again and delivered a few start of term notices, including the Forbidden Forest being … well … forbidden; the third floor corridor being out of bounds and information on Quidditch trials. I wasn't allowed to compete in Quidditch, being a Sorceress; it was too easy for me to cheat.

Shortly after this, we followed Percy out of the Great Hall to the Gryffindor tower. We were directed to our dormitories for the night, where me and the girls I was sharing a dormitory with changed for bed. I lay awake in bed for a while, wondering how Remus was doing; he'd turn back into a human again in the morning, but it wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep.


	12. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Chapter Twelve – Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, Especially When They Have Three Heads

Having Harry as a friend had been strange to start off with; people had been pointing at him and whispering, awed at the fact that someone famous was attending Hogwarts. I wasn't the only one who found it strange either; Harry seemed to get very agitated by people doubling back in corridors and standing on tiptoe just to get a glance at him. But, it wasn't long before people soon got used to the fact that Harry was famous and roaming the Hogwarts corridors and the amazed stares soon stopped.

Potions class was interesting. I knew from my godfather that Severus Snape had hated my father in school, but Snape picked on Harry a lot more than he picked on me. I did get one or two questions fired in my direction, and luckily I'd been able to answer them. Harry hadn't been so lucky. Snape had also deducted points from Harry, apparently just for the sake of it.

Transfiguration was too easy for my liking. We'd made complicated notes and were asked to turn a matchstick into a needle. I sat and did nothing the whole lesson, more interested in everyone else's success – or lack of – but when Professor McGonagall walked past in the classroom I took my left hand and slammed it down on the table, my palm face down onto the match. When I lifted my hand up again, the match had turned into a needle. At least we'd eventually get onto more difficult items. That was the only thing that kept me relatively interested in the subject – I wasn't very good with larger transfigurations.

All in all though, education was fun. I had friends I could spend time with and study with, and although I was finding some lessons either too easy or boring, I was enjoying my time at Hogwarts.

Remus had written to me the morning after the Moon, wishing me luck, and apologising for not being able to see me off on the train. Repeatedly apologising. I didn't mind – it's not his fault he got bitten. I suppose I'm one of the few people in the world who understands werewolf prejudice, and probably the only eleven year old able to make Wolfsbane Potion with my eyes shut.

Harry had introduced Ron and me to Hagrid at the end of the week. He was a likeable, huge man, and was the gamekeeper for the school. He seemed to want to keep things quiet though; Harry asked about Snape's hatred of him (I could have answered but that would have brought on many questions, and I don't like questions) and Hagrid abruptly changed the topic of conversation. The same thing happened when Harry commented on the Gringott's break in.

Flying lesson landed Harry a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, making him the youngest player in apparently a century. He'd caught a Remembrall that Malfoy had thrown into the air from a fifty foot dive. I have to admit it was impressive.

And now Malfoy, sore from not getting Harry expelled for being on a broom when we'd been specifically ordered not to, had challenged Harry to a Midnight Duel.

I met the boys in the common room at half eleven, and we were about to leave when we heard a voice whisper, "I can't believe you're doing this." Hermione Granger flipped a lamp on.

"Go back to bed," Ron told her, furiously.

"I almost told your brother, Percy," she retaliated. "He's a prefect, he'd soon stop you."

I must admit I hadn't been keen on the idea to start off with, but I wouldn't have gone so far as to back out. "Let's just go," I whispered, nudging Harry towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Hermione followed us all the way out into the corridor, still complaining and insulting us, until Ron told her to go away. She turned to get back into the common room to find that the Fat Lady had gone on a night-time wander around the castle.

"Now what am I going to do?" she asked of us.

"Make a mental note next time not to follow us?" I suggested, a little harshly.

We continued our way up the corridor, but before we'd reached the end Hermione had joined us, informing us she was coming with us. Reluctantly we agreed, but only two steps later we discovered a sleeping Neville Longbottom on the floor of the corridor. He seemed to have forgotten the password for the common room …. Again. The poor boy was the most forgetful boy I'd ever met. Neville also ended up tagging along with us.

We arrived at the trophy room and waited a while for Malfoy and his cronies to show up. We'd been waiting for about ten minutes when, "Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

Filch.

Harry waved at the rest of us to follow him out of the door at the back of the room. We did so and ran down the corridor. Neville tripped and pulled him, Ron, and a suit of armour to the ground, probably waking up the whole castle. If we hadn't been so concerned with escaping Filch I'd have had time to throw up a soundproof shield around the commotion. We ran even faster now down another few corridors, before coming face to face with Peeves the Poltergeist bouncing merrily out of a classroom.

"Wandering around at midnight ickle firsties? Tut, tut, tut, naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty," he taunted us.

"Not if you don't give us away Peeves," I said, cautiously. "Please?" I added for good measure.

"Should tell Filch I should," said Peeves, his eyes glittering with secret plans. "It's for you own good you know."

"Get out of the way," Ron snapped swiping at Peeves.

Bad move Ronald.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

That did it. We ducked under Peeves and ran to the end of a corridor straight into a locked door.

"We're done for," moaned Ron.

"Ron you idiot," I said, touching my thumb to the lock and twisting it, unlocking the door. We piled through and shut ourselves in the corridor. We heard Filch talking to Peeves outside, but I felt a tugging on my sleeve. Neville was pulling on both mine and Harry's sleeves, staring behind him in horror. I turned around and was almost tempted to scream. Then I remembered Filch was outside.

A giant, drooling dog was lying asleep on the floor of the corridor, stirring at the sound of voices. Then I realised it wasn't just a dog; this guy had three heads.

Harry established Neville's tugging and turned to face the monster just as it got to its feet, growling. He reached for the doorknob and all five of us left the dog as fast as was humanly possible. Luckily, Filch had disappeared off down another corridor, and we made it back to the common room without any further incident.

"What do they think they're doing?" Ron asked once we were inside and Neville had trudged up to bed. "A thing like that locked up in a school?"

"Didn't any of you see what that dog was standing on?" asked Hermione.

"Didn't you notice the _three frickin' heads_?" I replied.

"It was standing on a trapdoor," Hermione retorted, "meaning that that dog is guarding something. We could all have been killed, or expelled tonight. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." _(A/N: Haha am watching the movie and that line just came up as I was typing. Talk about irony)_

"No we don't mind," said Ron.

"Speak for yourself," I muttered. "You haven't got to share a dorm with her."


	13. Never a Dull Birthday

Chapter Thirteen – Never a Dull Birthday

_A/N: Woo some truly original stuff again! I love writing original stuff! The chapter is dedicated to everyone who reads it because I can go home for Christmas a week today!_

The next morning after our little incident with the three headed dog found Hermione refusing to speak to either me, Harry or Ron, and Neville too traumatized to even talk about our little escapade. Malfoy on the other hand was furious; probably at the fact that we were still within the confines of Hogwarts, and not packing to go back home. However, Harry, Ron and I had great discussions on what the dog might be guarding, and Harry informed us of a package that had been removed from Gringotts, and we spent a lot of time discussing what could have been wrapped up in that package.

Harry received a broom a few weeks later – none other than a Nimbus 2000. When Malfoy discovered Harry was now the proud owner of such a broom, and about his place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team Malfoy was even more furious. I loved knowing my friends were unintentionally managing to infuriate Malfoy, slimy little git that he was.

Halloween came around quickly. My twelfth birthday. The whole castle smelt like pumpkins that day, and a surprise from Remus arrived with the morning post.

It was only a letter, but what the letter contained surprised me.

_Happy birthday Tara! I know you've told me not to worry about your birthday, as you tell me every year, but I've arranged a small surprise for you for this year. Don't get too excited, it's nothing material; I've been speaking with Ministry officials all week to get this sorted for you. I know how much you wish you were able to have more contact with you father – your real father, not your adoptive one. I have arranged for you to visit Azkaban once a year, no more than that mind, and you don't have to go if you don't want to. Every year, on Boxing Day, I can escort you to Azkaban, and you shall be able to have an hour with your father. Your gifts mean that you do not mean to have someone of age with you – as you proved the last time you visited the prison. Your hour shall be just you and your father, but your father will have to be restrained. _

_I hope you're still enjoying your time there. Don't forget about next weekend._

_Remus._

Remus had gotten me permission to go to Azkaban regularly for my birthday. That meant more to me than anything else possibly could have.

I was rereading the letter for good measure, when it was gently tugged out of my hands by George Weasley. "And what is this," he asked good-naturedly.

"A letter," I replied, reaching for it back. There was nothing incriminating on it; revealing that my father was in fact Sirius Black or that Remus was a werewolf (the Weasley children didn't know this, though how they didn't figure out I used to visit them monthly still baffles me), nor did I mind the twins reading it, I was just halfway through rereading it.

"Can we look?" asked Fred.

I waved my hand at them as they sat down next to Ron, Harry and me. "Knock yourself out. It's just birthday mail."

"You're going to see your Dad again?" asked George. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"I thought your Dad was in prison?" asked Harry.

"He is," I said. "Remus got me permission to see him once a year. He is my Dad; I should be able to see him. And, to answer your question George, I haven't seen him since I was eight years old."

Ron looked at me frowning. I knew what he was thinking.

"Yes, Ron, that was the time I sneaked off to go and tell him about Mum."

"Awesome," said George, passing my letter back. "And Happy Birthday!" he shouted, for the whole of the Great Hall to hear.

I whacked him hard on the arm. "Shut up! … Ow," I added, hurting myself more than I hurt George.

XXX

Charms that morning was an interesting lesson … for most. We were learning how to levitate. We'd been given feathers, and I'd been able to answer Professor Flitwick's question as to why we were starting with such light and weightless objects, having learnt to levitate objects years ago. Obviously the larger the object, the heavier it was to levitate; like lifting something up. There's only so far magic can take you – you have a magical limit as well as a physical one, which I knew only too well.

I was able to levitate objects using hand gestures, but I'd not quite mastered levitation through mind control, so I decided to focus on this mechanism, instead of my usual method. I was sat with Harry, and he wasn't having any luck.

"Can you do this?" he whispered to me, as we watched Ron be given instructions by Hermione. I couldn't help laughing at him.

"I've been able to levitate objects since I was about six. The objects have kind of gotten bigger over the years." My mind wandered back to the magic I'd performed in Azkaban when I'd gone to visit Dad by myself. To demonstrate, I moved my wrist in a similar way to the wand movement required, and lifted the feather of the table at the same time as Hermione managed it.

Professor Flitwick started clapping and I snatched the feather out of the air, hoping he'd only noticed Hermione and not me levitating our feathers. I didn't deserve any points and I knew Flitwick would be giving them out. Luckily he only gave them to Hermione.

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the lesson, and starting complaining about her as we left the room. Hermione pushed past us, and I could sense she was upset. I made a mental note to talk to her at the end of the day, but when she didn't turn up to any more classes that day, I told the boys I was going to go and see if she was alright. Parvati Patil informed me she was in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone, but I decided to go and see her anyway.

Leaving the stunningly decorated Great Hall, I wandered into the toilets and heard sniffling from one of the cubicles. "Hermione?" My voice echoed in the almost empty toilets.

She sniffed again. "Go away!"

"Hermione," I said, walking up to her cubicle and rapping on the door. "It's Tara, open up, or I'll do it for you."

I heard Hermione pull the lock back and she pulled the door back. Her eyes were red from crying.

"What's the matter?" I asked her.

Shaking her head, Hermione replied, "Nothing."

"Liar." She looked at me. "Crying generally says 'Hey, there's something bothering me.'"

"No one likes me," she stated.

"I like you," I said.

"Your friends don't," she said. "Why would you?"

I thought about my answer for a minute before saying, "Because I don't judge people by what other people think of them. Ron's an idiot. I love him like a brother, but he's still an idiot. You should know, you spent an hour with him in Charms," I added. "My legal guardian is … not very well liked by the Wizarding community," I said, catching myself in time before saying 'werewolf'. "My father's a convicted criminal. There's no point judging people on what everyone else thinks. This is why I don't have a problem with you."

"Then why do so many other people?" asked Hermione. "I don't understand it. I don't know why I came here. I should have gone to the Muggle comprehensive school I was originally planning on attending."

"But if you did you wouldn't have had all the fun you're going to have here," I said.

A dull creak behind me signified the door to the corridor opening. I glanced around to see who was entering and was forced to double take as Hermione screamed.

A troll was wandering into the toilets.

"Crap," I muttered, grabbing Hermione and pulling her with me towards the opposite end of the toilet. "Stop screaming," I added. "You'll draw attention to us." She soon quit screaming.

The door to the toilets opened again, and I was just about to warn whoever it was to turn around and go and get help when I saw it was Ron and Harry. Typical guys, playing heroes, I thought. I took a deep breath, ready to defend me and Hermione with what Remus called my Dragon Breath. Harry grabbed a tap the troll had knocked off from a sink and threw it at the troll. It hit the troll and bounced off of it, hitting the wall with a loud crack. The troll turned around to locate the source of the sound and began heading towards Harry, raising its club as it went.

Ron yelled at the troll from the other side of the chamber, causing the troll to change tack and head towards him instead. This was going brilliantly.

Harry dodged around the troll and tried to pull Hermione and me up. "Hey," I said, objecting greatly. "I'm fine." He continued trying to pull Hermione up but she wasn't moving.

The troll was obviously becoming very frustrated by the echoes and shouting in the bathroom, and began heading towards Ron, who had no escape. I tried throwing electric charge at the troll, but it didn't affect the troll's movement.

Then Harry decided to take a run and jump.

And his wand went straight up the troll's nose.

"Nice," I muttered.

"Do something!" Harry yelled, and Ron raised his wand before I could think of anything to do and cried out, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

The club flew out of the troll's hand and rested in the air for a moment. Ron lowered his wand, and the club dropped onto the troll's head, knocking him out.

"Is it … dead?" Hermione asked, as Harry wiped his bogey covered wand on the troll's trousers.

"I don't think so," I said. "Just knocked out."

A loud slamming of the door alerted us to the presence of Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell (Quirrell looking petrified of the troll). McGonagall demanded an explanation from the four of us.

"Please, Professor," said Hermione, quietly, "they were looking for me. I went looking for the troll because I thought I could handle it on my own …. You know, because I've read all about them."

I heard Ron's wand clatter to the floor next to me.

"If they hadn't cme and found me I'd probably be dead now."

You and me both, I thought to myself.

Professor McGonagall stared at the four of us and said, "Well-in that case … Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own? Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you."

Hermione was sent back to the dormitory, and Harry, Ron and me were awarded five points each, even though I felt I didn't deserve them, as I'd done nothing.

XXX

The common room was packed and noisy, as food had been sent up from the Great Hall. Hermione muttered her thanks to Ron and Harry, and after that she became a part of a group. I guess knocking out trolls in your spare time is an easy way to make friends.

_A/N 2: Hmm …. Could have been better I guess. I just figured Tara would have gone and spoken to Hermione, but there's nothing she could have done really with regards to the troll. She's not that powerful yet._


	14. Home For Christmas

Chapter Fourteen – Home for Christmas

_A/N: about 100 pages of the book left, then my least favourite book, then the fun can really begin. I cannot wait to get to the Prisoner of Azkaban stuff!!!_

_A/N 2: I know this chapter's kind of choppy and stuff, but I quite like the way its turned out. And I'm very happy with the way I've portrayed Tara's relationship with Remus._

The weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays were eventful to say the least. Harry discovered that Snape had something to do with what the three headed dog we'd met at Halloween when he'd overheard a discussion between Snape and Filch. Gryffindor defeated Slytherin even though Snape had apparently tried to get Harry thrown off of his broom – Hagrid had unconvincingly tried to tell us that Snape had had nothing to do with Fluffy (Fluffy being the three headed dog, funnily enough belonging to Hagrid). Although Hagrid seemed to have difficulty keeping secrets. He let slip the name of his three headed dog, and also let slip a name that we spent our time researching in the library – Nicolas Flamel.

A week before we were due to go home for Christmas, Professor McGonagall came around making a list of students staying in Hogwarts for Christmas. Harry, Ron, Fred George and Percy all signed up to stay in school over Christmas. Hermione and I were both going home.

XXX

Christmas arrived quickly. And with it came the prospect of seeing my Dad again. I wasn't so worried about seeing him again now. I'd already met him twice, and over the years I'd grown more confident. Sat in a compartment with Hermione on the journey home I spent a while thinking about the fact that Remus had gone out of his way to make sure Dad and I were able to see each other, even if it was only once a year.

"Are you OK?" Hermione asked me. "You seem a little quiet, which is strange for you."

Smiling, I replied, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just, thinking."

"May I ask what about?" enquired Hermione.

I looked out of the window and sighed. "Dad."

"Your father's in Azkaban isn't he?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah. But Remus got permission for me to go and see him once a year, every year on Boxing Day, so I'll at least be able to form some kind of a relationship with him. Even if he is a convicted criminal," I added.

"What did he do?"

I shook my head. "I'm not saying. It's too complicated, and if I tell you what he did, you'll know exactly who he is, and I don't want people making a huge fuss about who my father is. I'd rather just tell them he's there and not tell them name or crime. I'm sorry," I added, "I'm just … sensitive I guess? I don't know. I'll tell you and the boys everything one day, but until then don't ask me what he did or who he is. No matter what he's done, or supposed to have done, he's still my Dad."

"Have you met him before?" asked Hermione.

I was surprising myself by being so open to questions about Dad. I usually closed up and refused to give any information about him at all. "Met him when I was seven, with Mum, and then I went to see him when I was eight to tell him Mum had just died. It was thanks to him that Remus got custody of me." I stopped short, realising that if I said much more I'd be blurting out that Remus was a werewolf, and I wasn't quite ready to let my friends know my legal guardian's condition. I started kicking myself for mentioning that Remus was only my guardian because of Dad, knowing full well Hermione would ask, but she didn't. Something must have registered in my expression that I'd said too much, because she changed the topic of conversation.

"Do you miss your Mum?" she asked, gently, as though afraid I'd blow something up or something.

"Yes. All the time. But I guess it's like I've gotten used to her not being here," I told her. "Four years is a long time. Kind of. I tend to think about her more around when her birthday was, in May, around the time she died, halfway through November, and Christmas."

"How did she die?" Hermione whispered.

I swallowed, thinking about that day in the garden. "Brain haemorrhage. I know it seems weird – a witch dying from a Muggle condition but she didn't go to St. Mungo's or anything until it was too late. I was in the garden with Ron and Ginny; we were riding broomsticks, and I managed to remove the jinx from mine that stopped me from going too high. Mum came out to tell me off, and she just collapsed, being sick and stuff." I felt my eyes filling up and I looked determinedly out of the window. As much as I always got upset talking about Mum's death, I still didn't mind talking about it. "We got her to St. Mungo's but it was too late. She died before the Healers even made it to her. Ron refuses to talk about that day, and Ginny does. They saw it, but they've both really repressed the fact that they saw it. They acknowledge that they know what happened but …" My voice trailed off. I sniffed, wiped my eyes and looked at Hermione. She looked upset as well. "It's fine. Really. Four years later I'm living with my godfather, and surprisingly living a very happy life."

While we'd been talking the train pulled us into King's Cross station. Hermione and I retrieved our trunks and left the platform via the barrier. Hermione introduced me to her parents, and then I made my way back home.

XXX

Pushing open the front door, I heaved my trunk inside and called out in a sing-song voice, "Hellooo?"

I heard footsteps in the back of the house, where the kitchen and living room stood connected. Abandoning my trunk in the hallway I wandered through to the kitchen and entered the main room at the back of the house. As I entered the kitchen, two hands placed themselves over my eyes.

"Guess who?" a voice said, obviously Remus'.

I decided to tease him. "A four legged, hairy animal?"

The hands disappeared and I turned around to look my godfather in the eye. "No, that was the other night," he said, jokingly.

Smiling, I said, "Hey Remus."

"Hello Tara," he replied, pulling me into a fatherly hug. "How are you?"

"I'm good." I pulled my scarf and coat off and hug them up on hooks next to the back door. I looked out to the garden, with the pond frozen over and said, "How have you been?"

Remus looked slightly downcast. "I lost out on another job I'm afraid. The usual reason."

I sighed and said, "I swear, I am going to rid this world of werewolf prejudice, and if I ever meet that Umbridge woman who wrote the article making it difficult for you to get a job I will kill her." I paused, and off a look from Remus I said, "OK, maybe not kill. Maim?" I suggested, hoping for a compromise.

Remus smiled and let out a weak laugh.

"What?" I asked, totally confused.

"It's been lonely around here without you."

I couldn't resist smiling.

XXX

Being back at home was strange at first, but I soon got used to being with Remus again. I loved being at home; I loved it more than I enjoyed being with friends at school. The only thing missing from home was Mum, but she was always there, in my heart and memories.

Christmas arrived quickly. I received my usual Weasley jumper from Molly Weasley, and sweets from Ron, Harry and Hermione. I put these aside knowing that they'd be picked at today, but then Remus would probably eat the rest. My appetite was hungry at mealtimes, not interested the rest of the day.

That night I sat on the floor, leaning against the sofa and watching the flames in the fire. I'd be seeing my Dad again the next day, and I was thinking about what I'd tell him. Remus came and sat on the sofa behind me, and he placed a small parcel on my lap.

"What's this?" I asked. I'd told Remus never to get me anything for birthdays or Christmas, as we weren't the most well off family in the world.

"You do understand the idea of a _present _don't you?" he asked, mockingly.

I playfully slapped his leg. "Yes but I told you before …"

"I'll explain when you open it." Remus' voice was firm.

Sighing, I pulled the paper away from the parcel revealing a blue box. Remus leaned forward on the sofa behind me, and I opened the little blue box. Inside, resting on a small blue cushion was a locket, which I hadn't seen in years. "This is …"

"… Your mother's, yes," Remus finished for me. "She told me she was going to give it to you your first Christmas in Hogwarts. She was wearing it when she died. I'm sorry I took the liberty of removing it, so that I could give it to you as Thaila intended."

My fingers were stroking the smooth silver of the heart shaped locket. Mum had told me when I was younger that Dad had given her this on their wedding day. I opened it, and there were two moving photographs inside; one of my father, and one of my mother. The same pictures Mum had kept in it when she'd worn it.

Remus took the locket from me, and did it up around my neck. I turned to face him and said, "Thankyou," knowing that my words couldn't truly convey how I felt.

_A/N 3: Aww … All I have to add really. Have had that picture in my mind for ages. Is really lovely to see it written down._


	15. A Question of Innocence

Chapter Fifteen – A Question of Innocence

Remus escorted me to Azkaban the next morning. As we entered the prison I was overcome with waves of fear and unhappiness, and memories of my mother's death. Remus took my shoulder and quickly guided me into the small office where the Ministry workers resided.

A different Ministry worker was sat at the desk, deep in discussion with a younger, female Ministry worker. "Oh," he said, starting when he saw us. "Yes, um, Tara Black isn't it? Here to see Sirius Black?"

"You psychic or something?" I asked before I could stop myself. Remus nudged me from behind, and I inwardly kicked myself. Sometimes my mouth gets the better of me.

The man smiled in a friendly way, as the woman left via the Meeting Room. "No, you're the only visitor to Azkaban today. I hear you caused quite a storm the last time you were here?"

I shifted uncomfortably. I was _not_ proud about what I'd done that day. The power I'd used had terrified me, even though I'd tried using it on the troll a few months ago. But human beings are different to trolls.

A short while later the woman returned and told me I had an hour. I hugged Remus and said I'd be back, and then I entered the room where Dad was sat chained to the chair, the way he'd been the first time I'd seen him.

His skin was even paler than it had been the last time I'd seen him, and his hair had grown even longer. Having not seen him in four years, his appearance surprised me. He'd seemed bad the last times I'd seen him, but he was a lot worse now.

"Dad," I whispered.

He looked up at me and smiled. "You're back again, my daughter? You really are quite persistent."

"Don't I deserve a chance to know my father?" I asked, in a serious tone. "And I'm not really persistent. Otherwise I wouldn't have left it four years before seeing you again."

Dad breathed out, and said, "It's been four years? Didn't think it had been that long. That makes you … eleven now?"

I shook my head, "Twelve."

"I should have known that. You're my daughter." He looked me over, the way he'd done when Mum had brought me here. "I can tell you've changed. You look so much like your mother. Aren't you in Hogwarts now?" he asked, changing the topic suddenly.

I nodded, "Yeah. It's good, I love it."

"You make Gryffindor?" he asked, enthusiastically.

"Would you be disappointed if I said no?" I joked, and then off of Dad's frown I smiled, "Course I did, am only kidding." Dad broke out into a smile. I paused for a minute and added, quietly, "Harry did too."

"As in Harry Potter? James and Lily's son?"

I nodded as Dad smiled even more. There was something playing on my mind though. Something I wanted to ask him. "Dad?" I said quietly. "What happened? Why did you end up here?"

"Did no one tell you what I did?" he asked, sounding a little put out.

"I know what you're supposed to have done. But I want to hear it from you. If you don't want to talk about it, I don't mind."

Dad took a deep breath and said, "I didn't betray Harry's parents. I wasn't the Secret Keeper. You Mum knew that …"

"She told me that much," I said, interrupting him. My magic was tingling; so far Dad had only said what he believed to be the truth.

"I didn't kill those people. Peter did. That's all you need to know."

I could sense that Dad was telling the truth, but unfortunately as long as he believed he was telling the truth, I'd sense that he _was_ telling the truth.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have said anything."

Dad shook his head. "You're my daughter. It's your job to ask questions of your parents."

"How have you managed?" I asked. "About … Mum?"

"The Dementors won't let me forget she's gone. But knowing you're OK makes it better. I can't forget," he said.

"I never have," I admitted. "I find it hard sometimes, but it's harder here. I just want you to be OK."

"Don't worry about me," Dad said firmly. "You focus on your schoolwork, and having fun. You've had to grow up too fast. Just remember you're still a kid. You deserve some fun."

"I am having fun," I told him, and recounted the adventures of the term me, Harry, Ron and Hermione had had so far; meeting Fluffy, Harry getting on the Quidditch team, lessons and things. Dad seemed to enjoy listening to what I've been doing, and for the remainder of the hour, it felt as though he'd been with me my whole life, not that I'd only met him three times in my whole life.

The hour seemed to fly by, and it wasn't long, or it didn't seem like long, before the female Ministry worker entered and told us it was time to say our goodbyes.

"Take care, Tara," Dad said.

"You do the same Dad," I said, and watched as the female Ministry worker took Dad back to his cell. I left the room and found Remus sat in the office on the sofa, obviously waiting for me. He asked if I was OK, and I said yes, although I wanted to talk to him when we got back home. Remus thanked the Ministry worker and we left. When we got home I conjured a fire in the fireplace as Remus went into the kitchen area for a while.

I sat on the sofa and waited until Remus came back. "Can I talk to you?" I asked when he did return.

"Of course," he replied, handing me glass full of pumpkin juice.

I placed the glass on the floor and curled my knees up underneath me. I licked my lips and tried to think about how best to word what I wanted to say. "Dad ... " I paused again. Breathing deeply, and avoiding Remus' eyes I said, "Dad thinks he's innocent."

There was a ringing silence.

I heard Remus breathing softly, before he said, "What makes you say that, Tara? Did Sirius say something to you?"

"I asked him," I admitted. "I asked him what happened. He thought he was telling the truth."

Remus looked at me surprised. "You didn't tell me you could sense lies."

I smiled weakly and said, "You never asked. Anyway he said he wasn't the Secret Keeper, and that he didn't kill those people. But if he believes he's innocent, then when he tells me he is, I'll sense that he's telling the truth, regardless of whether it is the truth."

Remus was quiet again for a minute. I looked at him and he was watching the flames of the fire, the way I enjoyed doing at Christmas. I wondered to myself if that was where I'd subconsciously picked up the habit. "Tara," he was saying carefully, "you have to bear in mind the fact that there is a _lot _of evidence pointing to your father's guilt." I nodded, listening carefully. "No one, not even I can tell you what the truth is, and what really happened that night. The only people who know are gone. It's up to you what you think, but just remember it has been eleven years he's been there, and that's a long time to convince yourself of something you want to believe, whether it's the truth or not."

I nodded again, and turned back to the fire.

I had a lot to think about.


	16. Of Philosopher's Stones and Dragons Eggs

Chapter Sixteen – Of Philosopher's Stones and Dragon's Eggs

_A/N: There was too much dialogue last chapter, and now this one seems to be almost void of any. Where'd the balance disappeared to? Sorry about the rushedness of this chapter; am not a fan of these in the book._

I arrived back in school the day before term began. Harry and Ron were fascinated to hear about my third meeting with my father, though Hermione was annoyed that I'd forgotten to ask him about Nicolas Flamel. She soon forgave me though, when I pointed out it wasn't like I could just scribble a letter home saying I forgot to ask … I'd been too happy about finally being allowed to see my father again, and then I'd spent the rest of the holiday thinking about mine and Remus' discussion about my father.

Harry had been out and about roaming the school in an Invisibility Cloak over Christmas, which had me amazed, and Hermione horrified at the thought ("What if you'd been caught?!").

Harry told us he was convinced he'd read Nicolas Flamel's name somewhere, but we'd begun giving up hope of ever finding him in one of the library books. We were at a complete loss on that front until Harry had a revelation when he received a second Albus Dumbledore Chocolate Frog Card. "_I found him_! I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read his name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here – listen to this: 'Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood _and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel_'!"

At this, Hermione had leapt up and run off to the dormitories. Five seconds (I'm not exaggerating either) later carrying an enormous book almost the same size of she was. "I never thought to look in here!" she was saying. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"Um … Hermione …. Hate to break to you but light reading is usually, you know, light books? As in small books?" I said.

"Ssh!" she said.

I held up my hands in surrender and muttered, "Was only saying."

We were allowed to speak again once Hermione had found what she was looking for. "Nicolas Flamel," she whispered, "is the _only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone_!"

"Hermione, that means nothing to us," I replied, taking the book from her and turning it around so we could read the passage from the book.

After we'd read it, Harry exclaimed, "A stone that makes gold and lets you live forever? No wonder Snape's after it; _anyone _would want it."

This discovery led to much discussion between us as to what we'd do with a Philosopher's Stone, and this brought us onto the subject of the next Quidditch match, which Snape happened to be refereeing.

Ron and Malfoy managed to get into a fight with Malfoy and his cronies at the game, while Hermione and I witnessed Harry catch the Snitch in what had to be the fastest recorded save in … well … forever. The game had barely lasted five minutes! Hermione and I leapt onto our chairs cheering and screaming with happiness. Moments like this were those that allowed me to forget what a screwed up family life I had.

After the match, a party was held for Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team in the common room. Fred and George had sneaked food and butterbeer from the Hogwarts kitchens. Harry returned about half an hour into the party, whilst Ron and Hermione were talking to Fred and Angelina Johnson, and George was trying to convince me to eat one of the sausage rolls he'd stolen. I didn't trust him one bit, knowing what the twins were like.

Harry dragged Hermione, Ron and me off to another room and told us he'd overheard an argument between Snape and Quirrell; it seemed to us that Snape was trying to force Quirrell to give him information on something. I suggested that other things were guarding the Stone, not just Fluffy, and everyone else seemed to agree. Quirrell appearing to be the key to the Stone's safety left the four of us in considerable worry.

XXX

Easter approached, and along with them came the prospect of end of year exams. I wasn't too worried about these – I know that when I put my mind to it I have a fairly decent memory. Hermione however was completely overreacting; drawing up timetables and colour coded notes. The Easter holidays also brought with them a mountain of homework. Even I had to write home to Remus telling him I needed to stay in school to use the resources available to us. I felt rotten doing it, even though he told me he'd thought this would happen.

Almost every waking minute was spent in the library studying, which was not fun. While we were there we caught Hagrid looking at books on dragons.

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon," Harry informed us. "He told me so the first time I ever met him."

"But it's illegal; it was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that (_A/N 2: Sorry to interrupt the chapter with random trivia – the word 'warlock' derives from an ancient word for stupid or idiot lol_) andit's hard to stop Muggles noticing us when you've got a fire breathing beast in the back garden," Ron said.

"Hey!" I objected, thinking of my disastrous fifth birthday.

Ron grinned at me and continued, among confused looks from Harry and Hermione, "You can't tame dragons anyway. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But then you point out its Hagrid …" I started.

Hermione finished, "… and we're in trouble."

XXX

An hour later found us knocking on Hagrid's door, trying to found out what he was up to. And to see if we could wrangle some more information about the Philosopher's Stone from him. Of course he told us he couldn't.

"Number one, I don' know meself. Second, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason – was almost stolen outta Gringotts."

He turned back to stoking the fire, as Hermione said, "Oh, come on Hagrid, you might not want to tell us but you know everything that goes on around here. We only really want to know who had done the guarding. Who did Dumbledore trust enough to help him apart from you?"

_Nice one Hermione, _I couldn't help thinking in her direction, and she gave me a quizzical look, which I returned wondering what she meant.

Hagrid, however, had been flattered enough to tell us, "Well, I don' suppose it could hurt ter tell yeh that … some o' the teachers did enchantments … Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall – Professor Quirrell – Dumbledore o' course. Oh and Professor Snape."

"And you're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, right?" I asked, hopefully.

"Not a soul knows 'cept me an' Dumbledore," he said proudly.

A rattling from the fire Hagrid was stoking caught our attention, and Hagrid pulled a giant black egg from inside a cauldron warming on the fire.

Oh, shit, I thought to myself.

Ron knew what it was, or at least what it looked like it was too. "Where did you get it Hagrid?" he asked cautiously.

Hagrid smiled happily under his beard. "Won it. Las' night I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' playin' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter be rid of it ter be honest."

"Gee, I wonder why," I said before I could stop myself. Bugger. "Sorry," I added, going red.

"Is that … a dragon's egg?" Harry asked.

Ron, Hagrid and I nodded.

"Gotta keep the egg in the fire," Hagrid was explaining, although we weren't really listening. "Feed it on brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour …. What I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback …"

This was not going to be fun.

XXX

About a week later, we received a note from Hagrid telling us the egg was hatching, so of course we all headed down to his hut for the hatching. It really was an ugly looking thing, but Hagrid began treating it like a cute little kitten.

Things got from bad to worse.

Hagrid decided to call his dragon Norbert. He was nuts. Malfoy found out about Norbert and something of the smile on his face made us very worried that something bad was going to happen. We decided to write to Ron's brother, Charlie, and see if there was any way he could take the ever-increasing-in-size-dragon to Romania with him, to which we happily got a reply saying yes. Ron got himself bitten by the bloody thing, and it began going infected.

Near the date we were due to finally be rid of Norbert, Ron was admitted to the Hospital Wing because of his bite, which meant that he wouldn't be able to hand over Norbert to Charlie's friend. I wasn't going as I was planning on letting them out of the Common Room under the Invisibility Cloak so people wouldn't get suspicious when they saw the portrait open and close of its own accord.

Yet another revelation revealed that Charlie's letter was inside a book Malfoy had taken from Ron. And of course it was too late to change the plan.

Saturday didn't come quickly enough.

But things were still going bad for us that night. Hermione and Harry arrived back at least ninety minutes after they'd arranged to be on the Tower meeting Charlie's friends, and informed Ron and me that Neville, Hermione and Harry had been caught by McGonagall, lost the house one hundred and fifty points, and obtained detention.

Things were not looking up for us.


	17. Connecting the Dots

Chapter Seventeen – Connecting the Dots

_A/N: I'm getting frustrated with the Philosopher's Stone now, so I'm apologizing in advance if my chapters end up rubbish and rushed._

Harry, Neville and Hermione were all strongly disliked by almost the entire school after the incident with the dragon. Neville had apparently overheard Malfoy telling his cronies that he knew we had a dragon, and Neville had decided he was going to warn us about this. His intentions, as were Harry and Hermione's were good, but they still got penalized for it.

Things could have been much worse though. If Ron and I had gone with them, then that would have been another hundred points missing from the Gryffindor hourglass, which would have meant the house would have no chance of gaining the House Cup this year, not that the rest of the school thought about it like that.

Shortly before exams were about to start, we received another sign that Snape was trying to get hold of the Philosopher's Stone. Harry had overheard Quirrell sobbing and talking to someone in an empty classroom, and it sounded like Quirrell had finally given in to Snape, and that Snape finally knew what he needed to go. Whatever happed to a peaceful first year at school?

Harry and Hermione's detention was to take place the next night, so at eleven o'clock they bade Ron and I farewell in the Common Room, and left for the Entrance Hall to do their detentions.

"What do you reckon they have to do?" Ron asked me.

I shrugged, staring into the fire. "No idea. Eleven o'clock seems a bit late though doesn't it?"

Shaking his head and walking over to the Common Room window Ron said, "Detentions here really are punishments. They usually have them nice and late so you lose a good night's sleep and stuff. It's been that way for years. At least that's what my brother's have told me." He paused for a moment then said, "Look like they're doing their detention with Hagrid."

This caught my attention. I got up and went to look out of the window Ron was looking out of, and sure enough, Hagrid was leading Harry, Hermione, Neville and Malfoy towards the Forbidden Forest. "I thought the Forest was out of bounds to students?" I asked.

"It is," Ron agreed. "There's supposed to be werewolves in there and all sorts."

I sighed, looking at the shining _waxing _moon in the sky. The Full Moon was four days away yet. "Ron, werewolves only become wolves under the Full Moon." I pointed up to the moon and said, "That's not a Full Moon. It's probably just something the teachers say to keep us away from there."

We watched from the window for a while, and at one point about forty-five minutes after the group had entered the Forest red sparks shot up in the air. Ron and I exchanged worried glances at that point.

In a way, watching the Forest from Gryffindor Tower with my oldest friend was kind of fun; it reminded me of the days when Mum was alive, when we used to do things together. I subconsciously moved my hand to my neck and curled it around Mum's locket.

"What's that?" Ron asked. "I haven't seen that before."

Smiling I said, "You have, but it was about four or five years ago. It was Mum's. Remus gave it to me at Christmas." I showed it to Ron, without taking it off. I hadn't taken it off except to shower since Remus had given it to me. "I've been wearing it since," I told Ron.

Ron surprised me then by pulling me into a brotherly hug. "It's not fair that some people lose their parents so young," he said.

I pulled back and said, "Yeah, I admit my family's kinda … messy. But Harry has it worse. I'm OK with Mum being gone now. I still get upset now and again, but I imagine I always will. She was my Mum, no one can replace her."

As we were talking, the portrait opened and Neville, Harry and Hermione entered; Neville ran straight up to his dormitory, and Harry was shaking.

"Holy Merlin," I said, "what happened?"

Harry began pacing up and down the Common Room, muttering all the time, "Snape wants the Stone for Voldemort … and Voldemort's waiting in the Forest … and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich …"

Ron was looking terrified. "Stop saying the name," he whispered urgently.

I rolled my eyes.

Harry continued muttering, "Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done …. Bane was furious … he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen … They must show that Voldemort's coming back … Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me … I suppose that's written in the stars as well …"

"_Will you stop saying the name?_"

"So all I have to do now is wait for Snape to steal the Stone, and then Voldemort will be able to finish me off …"

Harry's pacing was driving my nuts. It was like watching a ball bounce from one side of the room to the other, so I got up and grabbed Harry by the arms, pinning them to his sides and stopping him from moving forwards any more. "Everyone says Dumbledore's the only one Voldemort was ever afraid of," I told him. "Dumbledore's here, and as long as he is, you'll be fine; Voldemort won't touch you. Anyway, centaurs are full of crap. They're rubbish at prophecies and stuff. Professor McGonagall says it's a very imprecise brand of magic."

As we'd been talking, the sun had begun to rise in the horizon. We decided to turn in and catch some shut-eye before facing the day ahead.

XXX

Exams were upon up before we knew what was happening. We had written papers and practical exams to sit. Practical exams I didn't find a problem, except for Potions which was slightly nastier than the rest, but I did fairly well in that one. I do brew a potion at home once a month after all. Written papers were no fun either, but the four of us struggled our way through them and when they were finally over, we left the Castle to collapse in the shade of a tree outside.

"A week until we know how badly we've done," Ron said, stretching out and lying back on the grass. "You OK Harry?"

Harry was sat on the grass, holding his hand to his scar. "My scar keeps hurting – it's happened before but it seems to be all it's doing lately," he complained.

"Ask Madam Pomfrey about it?" Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning …. It means dangers coming …"

Ron began telling Harry for the hundredth time that as long as Dumbledore was in the school, the Stone was safe, and Harry was safe, but Harry wasn't convinced. He told us there was something important that we'd missed, and as he was looking up at the sky, he gasped, leapt to his feet and began running across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut.

"Guys?" I said. "Movement."

We all leapt up and chased after Harry, who didn't stop until he was outside Hagrid's hut, where Hagrid was shelling peas. "Hullo," Hagrid said, "you lot got time fer a drink?"

"No, we're in a hurry Hagrid," Harry said straight off, before the rest of us could get a word in edgeways. "You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger look like? The one you were playing cards with?"

Hagrid simply shrugged and told us, "Dunno. He wouldn' take his cloak off."

No that seemed strange. And apparently not just to me. Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces were all displaying stunned expressions, and I imagine mine was too. Hagrid must of noticed because he hastily added, "It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in Hog's Head … that's the pub down the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry sat down next to Hagrid, and innocently asked, "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

I was starting to see where Harry's questions were leading. He thought that Hagrid may have told the stranger he'd gotten his egg from crucial information about the Philosopher's Stone. Our worst fears were confirmed when Hagrid said, "So, I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep …"

A horrified look spread over ours and Hagrid's faces. Hagrid _must _have told that stranger about Fluffy! Now we and the rest of the world were definitely screwed. We turned and ran back to the Castle as fast as we could, Harry saying something about going to Dumbledore and informing him about the situation.

We hit a slight problem in our situation as soon as we entered the castle; Dumbledore's office: Location of. None of us even had the slightest clue about where to start looking. Luckily we were saved the hassle of wandering around almost aimlessly for an eternity by Professor McGonagall.

Harry decided to tell Professor McGonagall about Hagrid and the stranger, but she merely told us that, "Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," and "No one can possibly steal the Stone, it's too well protected."

Yeah, I thought. Tell that to the sleeping mutt upstairs.

Once Professor McGonagall had picked up the books she'd dropped, Harry turned to us and said, "Its tonight."

"Are you sure, Harry?" I asked. "How can you prove its tonight?"

"Because, he's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. I bet the Ministry will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

Harry was mid-stream when a voice behind us spoke, turning my blood cold. "Good afternoon," Snape said smoothly. "You shouldn't be inside on a day like this. You want to be more careful. People might start thinking you're up to something and Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can they?"

As we began heading, regretfully, outside, Snape called after Harry to watch his back, otherwise he'd get himself expelled.

We decided to split up and form two teams; one watching Snape, the other watching the corridor. Hermione and I got the job of watching Snape, yet our plan failed when Snape left the staff room asking who we were looking for. Hermione, thinking on her feet, said she was looking for Professor Flitwick, and to our dismay, Flitwick was actually in the staff room. Now Hermione had to make conversation with Flitwick, while we were forced to watch Snape leave the staff room and head off in another direction.

Harry and Ron told us later that they hadn't had much luck either. Professor McGonagall had caught them snooping around the corridor, and threatened them with a fifty point dock from Gryffindor.

This chain of events led to the decision that we'd also be going down the trapdoor.

Tonight.


	18. We Got It Wrong

Chapter Eighteen – We Got It Wrong

_A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. I'm experimenting with an idea for an AU Harry Potter fanfic focusing on Harry and Tara. If all goes well I shall publish it here._

That night the four of us sat in the common room, thinking about the task at hand. None of us sat together, and none of us spoke to each other. Hermione was looking through her notes, just in case something we'd learnt in class could help us out. I wrote a letter to Remus, not telling him what we were doing, just writing to him, saying I couldn't wait to be home for the summer. Of course if things went badly, I may be home sooner than expected.

Shortly before we were supposed to be in our dormitories for the night, I headed towards the Owlery to send my letter, all the time thinking to myself about what we were planning on doing that night. It seemed both the right thing to do, and possibly the stupidest thing on the planet. When I returned, the common room was void of people except Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry was opening up the Invisibility Cloak.

"Are we all going to fit?" I asked. There were four of us.

"I don't know," Harry replied honestly. "We'd better put it on here, so we know it's going to fit, and so Filch doesn't spot a foot wandering up the corridor by itself."

I'd be more worried about Mrs. Norris noticing a foot than Filch if I'm completely honest, I thought, but took a great effort to bite my tongue.

As we contemplated how best to use the cloak to cover the four of us, a voice accused us from the corner of the room, "What are you doing?"

My breath caught in my throat as Neville emerged from behind a sofa clutching Trevor the toad. "Nothing, Neville. Why don't you go to bed?" I suggested.

"You're going out again!" he said. "I'm not letting you, you can't. You'll get caught again and Gryffindor will be in even more trouble!"

Harry sighed impatiently and said, "You don't understand, this is important."

"No," said Neville, shaking his head. "I won't let you. I'll fight you. I don't think you should be breaking any more rules. And you were the ones who told me to stand up to people!"

Neville was not going to let us out of the common room willingly. That was clear enough, and my earlier thoughts of whether we were really doing the right thing came back to me. Maybe Neville was a sign that this was a bad idea? Before I had time to voice my thoughts, however, Neville was lying on the floor with a full body bind placed upon him, courtesy of Hermione.

Regretfully, we pulled the cloak on, leaving Neville on the floor, and began making our way to the third floor corridor. We passed Mrs. Norris and it was incredibly tempting to give the scrawny cat a good kick up the arse, but of course that would have sent her running to fetch her owner, and our efforts at getting to the Stone before Snape would have been in vain. Peeves also caused a slight delay, but Harry got us out of that one by pretending to be the invisible Bloody Baron, and telling Peeves to leave us alone.

Aside from Neville, getting to the Stone seemed a little bit _too _easy so far.

A short while later, we arrived at the corridor Fluffy was guarding. The door was already open, which meant we had to get moving fairly quickly if we wanted to stop Snape from getting the Stone. Harry pulled a flute out from inside his robes and began playing, as Hermione, Ron and I pulled the trapdoor open.

I couldn't see anything inside the trapdoor; there was no way to tell how far down it went, or if there was a soft landing at the bottom. "_Lumos,_" I whispered, and leaned into the hole in the floor, stretching my glowing hand into the darkness. "There's nothing there," I told Hermione and Ron. "It's just a big black nothingness. And there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop and hope for the best."

"Want to go first, Tara?" Ron asked.

"After I've pushed you in, yeah," I replied.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Harry, who was still playing his flute, waving at the three of us to get our attention. As we turned to look at him, he pointed to himself.

"You want to go first?" asked Ron. "Are you sure? I don't know how far this goes."

Hermione got up and took the flute from Harry, ensuring the three headed dog remained asleep. Harry came across and sat down on the side of the trapdoor. This was beginning to get a lot scarier now. What if Harry was about to jump into a bottomless pit? I began thinking we were all crazy, and as I did begin thinking that, Harry jumped into the pit.

After a while, a voice called up that it was OK to jump. I released a breath I hadn't established I was holding. Ron held out his hand and said, "Ladies first." I stuck my two forefingers up in his direction and leapt in after Harry.

It didn't feel like the drop would end. But when it finally did, I found myself sitting upon what felt like a plant. I lit my hand up as Ron landed on the plant near to me, and what I saw made me leap up and back against a wall. As Hermione landed, I called to her, "Hermione, get up!"

She did so and I held my lighted hand out in front of the scene; we'd landed on Devil's Snare.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry.

"Look at yourself, you idiot!" I exclaimed.

The creepers from the plant had wrapped itself around Ron and Harry's legs, stopping them from moving. Hermione and I had moved away quick enough for the Devil's Snare to not grab a decent hold on us, but now we were forced to watch the boys battle with the plant.

"Stop moving," Hermione ordered. "It's Devil's Snare, the best thing to do is relax." She turned to me and asked me, "How do you kill it?"

"You're the genius," I replied, "not me."

Hermione was whispering frantically to herself. I knew how she felt, my mind wasn't working right now either; I couldn't for the life of me remember how to kill the bloody thing. Suddenly Hermione pointed her wand at the plant and conjured up blue fire. I kicked myself for not remembering it was fire the plant was afraid of.

It soon released Harry and Ron, and so with that hurdle over, we made our way down a passageway which ended in a room with brooms lined up against the wall and keys enchanted to fly around the air. Both Hermione and I tried opening the door on the opposite side of the room with magic, but the door was charmed so magic wouldn't work. This meant we were left with trying to find the right key.

Harry managed to locate the key from where we were standing, and I attempted to summon it, although my attempts failed. Not that I was much good at summoning at this point in my life. We each grabbed a broom from the wall and cornered the key. Harry was able to catch the key and stuff it into the lock, letting us pass on into the next chamber.

We found ourselves stood on the edge of a giant chessboard.

The chessmen were at least twice our height, and we were stood on the side of the black pieces. Now this was something I felt more confident about. Ron was an expert chess player. I had never been able to beat him at chess, and without sounding too stuck up I'm not that bad a player. I can kick Remus' arse with a chess piece anyway. Ron allocated us all to chess pieces to play the game across the room. Harry was a castle, Hermione was a bishop, and me and Ron were knights.

As we took our places Ron muttered, "White always moves first … yes … look …"

A white pawn had moved forward two spaces. Now it was our turn. As the game progressed, I grew in confidence with my own skills at playing the game, and although Ron led the game, I was backing him up, supporting him or stopping him when one of us would be placed in danger. Our first real shock came when our second bishop was taken. The white pieces showed no mercy and it made us realise the seriousness of the game we were playing.

"We're nearly there," Ron muttered suddenly, a little while later.

I looked around the board and felt like I'd been hit by a brick wall.

There were two moves that could be made, and either one would allow Harry to checkmate the king. But either move would either knock me or Ron out of the game.

"Ron," I said, cautiously.

"Yeah, I know," Ron said, quietly.

"What do you know?" asked Hermione from behind me.

We chose to ignore her. "I'll go," I said, taking in a deep breath to reassure myself.

"What's going on?" asked Hermione, urgently.

"One of them has to be taken," replied Harry.

"You can't," said Ron to me.

I started moving and said, "Watch me."

I stopped on my square and waited for the white queen to maker her move. She came up to me, and as her arm collided with my head, I blacked out.

XXX

The world came back to me slowly, slightly blurry at first, but as it came into focus I realised Ron and Hermione were sat with me, but Harry was gone. "Where's Harry?" I asked, sitting up slowly. At least now I had an inkling of how Remus felt after a Full Moon. My head hurt. A lot.

"He's gone on," said Hermione. "We need to go and send an owl to Professor Dumbledore. Can you get up?"

I looked at Hermione and said, "I got hit over the head. I didn't break my legs." Yet, as I got up I swayed dizzily. "Yup," I added as I steadied myself, blinking. "We're good."

XXX

We didn't even get to the Owlery before Dumbledore passed us in the Entrance Hall, and he seemed to already know what was going on. The three of us went to the hospital wing to wait for Harry to be brought up, and about forty-five minutes later Dumbledore brought him in.

However we didn't get long with him, as Madame Pomfrey came and looked us over, and then sent us away to our dormitory.

Three days later Harry recovered, and told us what had happened in the final room with the Stone. It turned out we'd been wrong about Snape the whole time, and it was Professor Quirrell who was after the Stone.

The End of Term feast was held in the Great Hall. Gryffindor was two hundred and ten points behind Slytherin for the House Cup, yet, before we began celebrating Dumbledore announced that, "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor with two hundred and sixty two points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty six, and Slytherin have four hundred and seventy two. However, recent events must be taken into account. I have a few last minute points to dish out. First, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points –"

Cheering erupted around our table.

"– Second, to Miss Tara Black, for the willingness to sacrifice herself, so others wouldn't have to suffer, I award Gryffindor house fifty points –"

The cheering doubled.

"- Third, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points –"

Now a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had joined in the cheering. I couldn't believe Dumbledore was awarding us points for pretty much breaking the rules.

"- Fourth, to Mr. Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The cheering was deafening. In fact the only people who weren't now cheering were the Slytherins. We'd gotten our points tied with Slytherin just for figuring out about the Stone! The rush was incredible. I'd not gained fifty points if you combined the rest of the year together!

Dumbledore raised his hands, and slowly, as more and more people noticed, the room fell silent, and Dumbledore said, calmly as ever, "There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of energy to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

The Hall erupted with cheers. Gryffindor had won the House Cup! The decorations in the Great Hall were changed from green and silver to red and gold. It turned out to be the best evening of the whole year.

_A/N 2: Woo the end of the Philosopher's Stone. Chamber of Secrets will be shorter luckily. Tara doesn't have much to play and it's my least favourite book. The main reason I took so long with the Philosopher's Stone is that I wanted everyone to get a feel of Tara before I get to the "fun" stuff with Sirius and Lupin in PoA. But, until next time, review, and HWYL!_


	19. Thinking Outside My Own Head

Chapter Nineteen – Thinking Outside My Own Head

_A/N: Remember when Tara thought about something and Hermione gave her a funny look in Chapter 16? "_Nice one Hermione_, I couldn't help thinking in her direction, and she gave me a quizzical look, which I returned wondering what she meant." Just bear that in mind for this chapter :P_

_A/N 2: I'm assuming that Hogwarts has the general six weeks off for summer similar to schools here in the UK. I know in America the holidays are longer, but JK's British, and I'm Welsh (Ok British, same difference) so yeah … six weeks._

My head was hurting. I'd had a few headaches since the incident with the chessmen, and being paranoid I'd sneaked off to a Muggle doctor's a few days before when it was the Wolf Moon to check it wasn't a haemorrhage like Mum had had. Turned out they were just migraines. I hadn't been prescribed anything, but they were definitely getting worse.

I was sat at the table, a usual occurrence for the morning. Remus was making what seemed like a lot of noise to my poor head as he prepared breakfast. I placed my head in my hands and gently rubbed my head, hoping to make the pain go away. It wasn't working.

_Remus, please stop making so much noise_, I couldn't help thinking, to no one in particular.

"I'm just making breakfast, Tara," Remus replied irritably (he was always irritable after the moon …. I'm not the best housekeeper).

I froze. I thought I'd _thought_ that, not said it out loud. I really must start keeping tabs on when I do or don't speak my mind. One of these days I'll end up saying something I'll regret.

I was studying the table intently when Remus' voice interrupted my thoughts, "Are you alright?"

Ouch, I thought. "Just a headache." I said, just shrugging it off. Thought trust me, it wasn't 'just a headache.'

"Are you sure that's it?" he asked.

_Please, stop asking questions, I'm fine, _I thought, and began to open my mouth to say the exact same thing when the expression on Remus' face stopped me after the "Pl –". I sighed and asked, "What?"

His eyes were narrowed slightly and he was frowning, as though concentrating on something. I began to ask him what he was doing when a voice invaded my head, causing twice as much pain as had been there originally. _Can you hear me? _Was being repeated in my head. I screwed my eyes up and tried to block the sound out. It didn't feel like the words were being said, it felt like they were being carved into my head with a knife, and I just wanted to scream with pain. _STOP! _I screamed through my thoughts, desperately, _Please, STOP!_

The carving ceased, and I became aware that I was breathing heavily. I leaned my head in my hand and felt cold sweat on my brow. My head was still pounding, and I had no idea what had just happened.

Remus pulled the chair out next to me and sat down. "I think you're getting stronger."

I looked up and saw Remus looking at me with the love a father should look at his daughter. "My head hurts," was all I was able to say.

To my surprise, Remus smiled. "I'm not surprised. What you seem to be doing is accessing other peoples minds, and allowing them to access yours."

"I'm not allowing anything, and I'm just thinking. How the hell are you able to get inside my head?" This was infuriating. Being able to 'access minds' as Remus put it was more out of control than breathing fire. And potentially more dangerous. My powers were developing, and I was gaining abilities that were beyond the abilities of many wizards wielding a wand.

"Language, Tara," Remus said sternly.

Groaning, I started rubbing my head. "I don't get it."

"You want it in simple terms?" asked Remus.

"Well my head hurts too much to understand anything more complicated than one plus one," I said, irritably, getting up and taking a pain killer from a cupboard.

I saw a flicker of a smile on Remus' face as I threw the paracetamol down my throat and chased it down with a glass of water. "You can read people's minds," Remus said in a whisper; I think he was trying to sound mysterious, but all it did was frustrate me even more.

"How am I supposed to control that?! I think something and it ends up in someone else's head!"

Remus took hold of my hands and looked me in the eye. I was getting frustrated, and although he himself was usually testy around this time of the month, he was able to calm me down slightly. "So we find out what you need to do to control this ability," he said, calmly. "What I do know about controlling it though–"I took his pause to look at him questioningly. "-getting worked up about it is not going to solve anybody's problems."

I pulled my hand back and playfully hit my godfather over the head.

That afternoon found me sat cross-legged in the living room, eyes closed, hands resting on my knees and learning to focus on my breathing. At least that's what Remus was telling me to do. He should have just said meditate, because that's what we were doing. Remus told me to focus on him with my mind, and attempt to reach out to him to say something. I was breathing slowly, trying to focus on talking to Remus, and not on the blinding pain in my skull. _Remus? _I thought. _Can you hear me?_

_I can hear you_ came the reply, causing me to cry out in pain.

"It's too loud," I said. "It's working but you're too loud inside my head."

"Well, you can control talking to me, and letting me into your head, but you need to learn to dampen other people's thoughts, so that they aren't too loud for you."

"I don't know how," I moaned. It seemed an impossible challenge for me. I'd never thought of myself as powerful or gifted; I usually thought of my powers as a curse, and if I had a choice I'd prefer to use a wand, not myself. Containing magic and using it was more of an energy drain for me than most, and it would be until I reached my full potential, but to do that, I had to learn to soundly control what I had.

Remus and I practised for the rest of the day, and I soon worked out that I was letting too much of Remus into my head. I only needed to allow a small part of his mind into mine to hear what he was saying, and the majority of the holidays were spent practising this new ability.

About two and a half weeks before the end of the summer holidays I received a letter from Ron, generally asking how I was, and telling me he and the twins were kidnapping Harry from his aunt and uncle. I'm not joking, the letter actually said kidnap. Only a few hours later I received a letter from Hermione telling me that Ron was basically being a prat and he'd get expelled; only she used longer sentences and words than that.

However, neither of us had needed to worry. Apparently Harry's 'kidnapping' had gone according to plan and he was going to be spending the remainder of the holidays at the Burrow. I went to Diagon Alley a few days after the Weasleys and Hermione, because their visit tied in with the Wolf Moon, and soon the start of term was upon us, and we were going back to Hogwarts.

_A/N 3: as a treat for my readers, because I'm rushing through the boring stuff of Harry Potter (Chamber of Secrets is my least favourite book), Here's a taster of the AU fanfic I mentioned last chapter. Just a few paragraphs of the first chapter, but anything might be changed as I write more of it. There is no title at present and there's also a hint of Tara's future partner in this. Clue: It's not Harry._

_Summary: Harry and Tara both lose the people they love in the final battle against Voldemort, and so Tara takes them back in time to raise Harry themselves … as James and Lily Potter._

_Chapter One – Covered in Blood_

_Harry James Potter stood in the Hogwarts grounds, looking at the mess he'd left behind. The castle had all but crumbled to the floor in his most recent battle with Voldemort. Dead bodies, both of Death Eaters and those he loved lay strewn across the grounds, and crushed beneath the stones that had fallen from the castle walls._

_A tear rolled down his cheek as he remembered her face, surrounded by her fiery red hair telling him to run. To protect himself as it was up to him to destroy Voldemort. That was when Voldemort had raised his wand from behind her and silenced her forever. Harry remembered watching her crumple to the floor, a dead mass, and her eyes still full of love for him. The tears began to flow more freely as he remembered proposing to her the night before, and her accepting. And now he'd gotten the woman he loved killed._

_He heard a cry of pain from somewhere within the ruins, and pushing the thoughts of his fiancée out of his mind, he drew his wand and began making his way through the ruin, towards the source of the sound. Other people he loved lay dead on the ground as he passed through the castle; Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagall, Dobby, seeing Hermione brought on a fresh wave of guilt and sadness, many other members of the Order, and there were bodies of those he didn't care so much for; Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Fenrir Greyback. All dead because he hadn't been able to locate and destroy the final Horcrux before Voldemort attacked Hogwarts._

_The cry of pain he'd heard before called out again, followed by a loud sobbing. He was closer to the source of the voice now, heard it getting closer. As he did, Harry realised he was listening to a young woman's cries, and her cries sounded horribly familiar. Harry moved around a particularly large stone and saw his godsister, Tara Weasley, crying and screaming over the body of her dead husband, who it seemed had been half crushed by the large chunk of castle wall falling upon his legs._

_A fresh wave of tears took over Harry as Tara closed her husband's eyes with her left hand, still crying. Harry noticed she was holding her right arm to her chest, and that it was obviously broken in at least two places. The old scar on her head from sixth year had reopened and was trickling blood all down her face, mixing with her tears. Her hands were crackling with energy … with magic, but there was nothing for her to do. Everyone here was too far gone for her to heal anybody. _


	20. Car, Howler and Fraud

Chapter Twenty – Car, Howler and Fraud

_A/N: Hope you liked the segment from my other HP fic! I'm not posting that one though until Tara gets her guy, which is a while away yet I'm afraid, but I want it to be a surprise. But I'll leave lots of clues like the last one :P Clue Number Two: It's not Ginny._

_A/N 2: I'm going to try and get through CoS as quick as I can. If anyone wants it to be similar to PS then say and I'll change back, but Tara doesn't have a lot to do in this book._

_A/N 3: Only time I'm putting this up, when Tara uses her mind reading thing, the 'dialogue' will be in italics._

As the train pulled away from the station, I began wandering the train searching for Harry, Ron and Hermione. I found Hermione and Ginny sat alone in the compartment, and asked them where the guys were.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "I didn't see them on the platform, but the rest of the Weasleys' were all there."

"They were supposed to enter the platform after me and Mum," Ginny said, as I sat down on the seat next to her, "but I don't think I saw them enter."

Grinning, I joked, "You don't think they missed the train do you?"

Hermione and Ginny exchanged awkward glances. "We were just saying the same thing," admitted Ginny.

"Bugger," I replied looking out of the window. What I saw almost scared the life out of me, not literally obviously.

A blue car was being _flown _through the air by Harry and Ron.

"Ginny," I said, trying to stay calm. "Doesn't your Dad own a Muggle car?"

She nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Is it blue?" I was still staring out of the window, watching the car soar through the clouds.

"Tara, what are you going on about?" Hermione asked, as Ginny nodded again, frowning.

"Does it fly?" I asked, pointing out of the window at Harry and Ron.

Hermione and Ginny looked out and immediately Hermione starting mumbling and talking about them getting expelled for doing illegal magic. Ginny told her that they weren't doing anything wrong, it was her Dad who'd enchanted the car.

Fred and George soon swept into out compartment cheering about the fact that their brother was flying a car to school. "Although," George said, "they could have come and fetched us first."

"Don't tell me you two wanna be in the car too?" I asked, amazed. But then, I thought, it was the twins. What else would I have expected from them?

"If they aren't expelled …" muttered Hermione.

After the initial surprise at the fact that our best friends were flying a car to school, Fred, George, Ginny and I discussed what we'd been up to in the summer, while Hermione kept looking out of the window, making sure the boys weren't getting lost. When I told them about my mind reading ability, Hermione leapt in and said that she'd heard me say something last year, in Hagrid's hut, but it had been a little incoherent and she hadn't been able to clearly make out what I'd been saying. I hadn't realised the ability had been developing that early, but at least now I had complete control over it.

A few hours later we arrived at Hogsmeade station, and as we disembarked the train there was no sign of the car anywhere in the air, which worried both me and Hermione. Ginny left us to get to the school via the traditional boat ride, while Hermione, me, the twins and Lee Jordan got into carriages that were pulled up to the school by skeletal horse-like creatures. I remembered reading about them before. They were called Thestrals, and I could see them because I'd seen someone die; I'd seen my mother die when I was eight years old. It was almost like they were a reminder that I'd lost my mother at a young age.

We took our places in the Great Hall and listened to the Sorting Hat's song, which of course was followed by the sorting. A Colin Creevey became the first Gryffindor, and Ginny became the last Gryffindor of the year. As we ate, the main topic of conversation became Harry and Ron's flying adventures, and there was much speculation that they may have been seen by Muggles in aeroplanes.

Food was to be followed by bed, in my opinion. There was to be an early start in the morning - well, earlier than I'd grown used to over the holidays – and so I wanted to get a solid eight hours sleep. However, I was out of luck on the going straight to bed front, because Hermione wanted to go and find the boys. After a large amount of groaning from me, I was persuaded to accompany Hermione in her hunt for Harry and Ron.

The search didn't take long. We'd been to see Professor McGonagall, who'd told us that they'd been sent to the common room, which is where we were supposed to be, and we met up with the guys outside the portrait.

"There you are! Where have you been?" Hermione was asking. "The most ridiculous rumours – someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car."

I rolled my eyes before saying, "I didn't hear that one. I mostly heard hero talk."

Hermione glared at me.

Smiling, I thought, _What?_

Hermione jumped as I laughed. Harry and Ron were looking at us like we were crazy. "I'll explain later," I said.

We entered the common room, where the entirety of Gryffindor house was up still waiting for their heroes. I smiled at the boys before heading upstairs to my dormitory, and my bed.

XXX

The first day of term was possibly one of the most interesting days of my life. After I'd explained my new power at breakfast the next morning, the post brought a surprise from Ron, I the form of a bright red envelope.

"Unlucky," I said to him, grinning. Howlers are fairly entertaining as long as it's not yours.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"You'd better open it Ron," Neville was whispering. "It'll be worse if you don't. My Gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and it was horrible."

Ron sunk below the table as he sliced the letter open with his butter knife, and the Great Hall was graced by the wrath of Molly Weasley. The entire Hall was twisting around trying to locate the source of the screams, whilst I was desperately trying not to laugh at Ron's embarrassment. I looked up the table and caught sight of Fred and George laughing at their brother's misfortune.

Aside from the Howler the remainder of the morning was a fairly uneventful one, although I couldn't help poking fun at Ron all the way to Herbology. I only stopped when he reminded me of the incident at my fifth birthday party, which caused Harry to ask, "What happened at your fifth birthday?"

Groaning I said, "Don't ask me to reply it in my head. It was not a good moment."

Ron grinned and said, "She set fire to the table."

I hit Ron on the arm and said, "You're just paying me back for pissing you off about the Howler!"

Laughing, Ron replied, "And it's working."

"How did you set fire to the table?" asked Hermione.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Let's just say I have a lot in common with dragons. And let's leave it at that."

We'd reached the greenhouses by now, where the rest of class were waiting outside for Professor Sprout. The Professor in question was making her way across the grounds towards us with the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lockhart. He'd been introduced at the start of term feast, and many of the female students seemed to be in awe of him, and yet I could sense something about him that didn't quite add up.

"Oh hello there," Lockhart was saying, seemingly trying to charm us with a smile. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels …"

As he said that, the Sorceress stirred within me. This guy was a fraud! He was lying about having met Whomping Willows before!

I didn't get a chance to talk to the other three about this revelation during Herbology because we were handling Mandrakes, which involved us wearing earmuffs to block out the cry of the Mandrake. The lesson drove any thought of Lockhart from my mind, and all thoughts of the fact that he was a fraud were driven from my mind during a Transfiguration lesson where we had to turn a beetle into a button. Ron was having trouble with his wand, which had broken when he and Harry had driven the car into the Whomping Willow.

After lunch, Harry got asked by a first year Gryffindor, Colin Creevey, for a photo, to prove he'd met him. Unfortunately, Malfoy overheard and Harry managed to get himself steered away by Lockhart, who gave him a lecture on fame. The scary thing was Lockhart actually believed what he was saying.

When we reached Lockhart's classroom, I took my seat next to Harry and Ron took his seat next to Hermione. My thoughts from earlier came back to me, but I decided not to mention it until Lockhart started talking to the class. Unfortunately there was nothing in his speech that indicated that he was a fraud, so I couldn't pick up on anything except an uneasy feeling before he gave us the most ridiculous test in the history of tests. One look at it and I decided I wasn't going to waste half an hour writing answers to questions like, _What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour? _

After a half an hour doodling on the paper, and animating my doodles with magic, Lockhart collected the papers in and went through them in front of the class. He looked mildly annoyed when he saw mine, but didn't say anything about it. Any other teacher would have given me detention for drawing instead of answering the questions.

"Tut, tut – hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in _Year with a Yeti_. And a few of you need to read _Weekend with a Werewolf_ more carefully – I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples."

I couldn't believe Lockhart. This guy was so far up his own arse I was surprised there was any of him we could see. _What's the point? _I thought in Harry and Ron's general directions. Hermione was too busy soaking up a compliment from Lockhart for me to bother. Both guys jumped, predictably, but I thought back _you'll get used to it. _

"So are we actually going to learn defence in this class? Or are we just going to learn about you?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

I managed to obtain another annoyed look from the 'Professor' before he produced a cage from beneath his desk. "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this very room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

Harry, who had all his Lockhart books piled up in front of him, leaned around his books to get a better look at the cage as Lockhart continued, "I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them."

Lockhart removed the cover, and what was in the cage made Seamus Finnigan burst out laughing, and me to say, "For Merlin's sake."

The cage contained about twenty electric blue pixies. Not dangerous in the slightest. A pain in the butt, yeah, but dangerous? Not really.

In an attempt to show us how 'dangerous' the pixies were, Lockhart decided to release them upon the class. Several disappeared through the window, while the rest decided to cause chaos in the classroom; spraying people with ink bottles and shredding books and papers. Neville had been lifted onto the candelabra hanging from the ceiling, and within moments half the class were sheltering under desks.

"Come on now," Lockhart was shouting. "Round them up, they're only pixies!" Lockhart stood up to full height, raised his wand, and said, "_Peskipiksi Pesternomi!_"

The only thing this did was allow one of the pixies to grab Lockhart's wand and throw that out of the window. The candelabra Neville was suspended upon gave way as the bell for the end of class rang. There was a mad rush for the exit, but Lockhart caught us jest as we were leaving and told us to put the rest back into their cages, and with that he left us alone in a room with rampaging pixies.

"Can you believe him?!" Ron shouted, as one of the final pixies bit him on the ear.

"He's a fraud," I replied, freezing two pixies at once.

"You can't know that," said Hermione, kind of haughtily. "He just wants to give us some hands-on experience."

"He didn't have a clue what he was doing!" exclaimed Harry.

"That's because he's a liar!" I said, trying to get the point across. "Everything he says he's done, he's lying about it."

"They wouldn't have let him publish his books if he was a fraud," replied Hermione.

"I just know he's lying, Hermione."

"How? Did you read his mind?" She seemed really upset about something.

"What?" I exclaimed. "No! Ew! All his thoughts are probably of himself anyway. I can sense lies, Hermione, and I'm telling you, Lockhart was lying about the things he's done."

"Prove it," Hermione said, before leaving the classroom.


	21. Voices in the Night

Chapter Twenty-One – Voices in the Night

_A/N: as promised, for Tara's future partner, clue number 3: I am not messing with any relationship the amazing Jo Rowling has created, or ones that I think will occur ;)_

_A/N 2: a completely different structure and idea, partially to move the story along a bit, and partially because I thought it was a good idea as I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep._

_A/N 3: I'm basing my werewolf rules on a combination of Buffy and my own. I say the night before the moon he transforms, and then he remains a wolf for that night, the night of the Moon, the night after, and he turns back at sunrise after that._

It was late, the night before I was due to leave Hogwarts and go home for Christmas. I lay awake in bed, thinking about everything that had happened this term.

Malfoy had made the Slytherin Quidditch team, although when I say 'made' I mean he bought his way in. Must be nice for some people to have all the money they could ever want. Hermione had pointed this out to him and he'd called her a Mudblood of all things. I thought about Ron attempting to jinx Malfoy after that, and it made me smile. Although at the time him belching up slugs had been rather disgusting, now I found it kind of amusing. Plus, it gave me something to taunt him about, after all those years of him taunting me about having a lot in common with a dragon.

I thought about the Chamber of Secrets, whatever that might be, which brought me to think of the Polyjuice Potion, bubbling away in the girls' toilets haunted by Moaning Myrtle. I thought that maybe I could ask Remus and Dad about the Chamber when I went home, and when I saw Dad on Boxing Day.

Listening to the soft breathing of the other girls in the dormitory, I realised how lucky I was. Fair enough, all of these girls had both their parents, but, although Remus was a werewolf, I wouldn't have traded him for a father figure for anything else – except maybe my real father, locked away in Azkaban.

As I was feeling a small pang of guilt over the fact that I hadn't admitted to my friends the identity of my father, or the fact that I'd been living with a werewolf for the last five years, a small voice invaded my mind …. And it wasn't my own.

_What if I am the one attacking everyone? What do I do then? I'll get expelled! I've wanted to come here for so long, and now I'll have to leave because I've attacked everyone._

I sat upright in bed, wondering why I was hearing this voice. I had control over my mind reading ability, so why was I hearing this voice? I tried reaching out to whoever it was with my mind, but I don't think I was able to connect with them.

I took my feet out of the bed, and attempted to follow the voice; a difficult task when the voice is someone else's thoughts.

_I must be losing my mind … I can't remember anything … I have to be the one attacking everyone, why else can't I explain where I've been before the attacks have happened?_

I couldn't shake the voice from my mind; wherever I walked it seemed to get stronger. I decided that either I was the one who was crazy, or there was some poor first year student somewhere who was blaming themselves for everything that was going on.

I wandered down to the common room, just to see if anyone was there for the sake of it, but all I saw was Ginny, asleep at a table with a book spread open beneath her face, which she was seemingly resting upon. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, so I opted to leave her there, but I heard her stir as I was partway up the stairs, and I heard her murmur, "It's not me."

I stopped and turned, making sure Ginny was OK, and as she seemed to fall into a deeper sleep after that, I went back up to bed, where I almost fell straight asleep.

XXX

The Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross later the next evening, and as I passed through the barrier I was greeted by a tired looking Remus. "Hey," I said, as I hugged my godfather.

"Hey," he said, sounding exhausted.

"You sound like you were up all night," I said, grinning playfully.

"Wolf Moon tomorrow, Tara," Remus reminded me, smiling weakly.

I hadn't forgotten. I'd known it was the Moon the next night. And I knew for a fact that meant Remus had been up all night out of paranoia that the locks on the basement door were broken, or that something had been left unnoticed that could allow him to escape as a wolf. And he'd probably be doing the same tonight. He still took the Wolfsbane Potion, but he was always afraid that it could be a dodgy batch. I hugged him again, and told him I didn't mind, I was used to it, but he still couldn't accept the fact that he transformed for three nights and days out of a month. It didn't make him any less of a person.

We taxied back home in silence; I knew how sensitive Remus was around the Full Moon and I didn't want to start off the Christmas holidays on bad terms. I spent the journey looking out at the familiar sights that were taking me home, and I felt like a little kid again. The only difference was when I was a little kid my mother had been around.

That night went the same way any other night before the Wolf Moon did. At least before I went to Hogwarts. As I was preparing food, I wondered whether Remus even ate before he transformed when I wasn't here, because I was usually the one cooking the night before. Remus was checking the six locks on the basement door for the fifth time that night, and when he returned, I asked him, "Was there anything wrong this time?"

It was only meant as a joke, but Remus glared at me and replied, "You know the risks you're taking by living with me. I need to reassure myself that you're safe, no matter what happens."

"Trust me," I said, tasting the bolognese I was preparing, "I'll be fine. Five years of this … nothing's going to go wrong. We've mastered the art of the Wolf Moon by now."

I was hoping to get a smile out of Remus, but all I received was a sigh.

XXX

The next day Remus spent much of the day rechecking locks, running through safety during the Moon, and reminding me what to do and what not to do; the same as usual really. I felt bad for him. I was the closest Remus would ever have to a daughter, and I knew how scared he was of losing me. Five years of the same routine and he still got scared every time the Wolf Moon approached.

We ate early, and as the sky began to get dark I accompanied Remus to the door of the basement, the same I way I did every Moon I was home for. I was forbidden to pass through the door under any circumstances, even when there was no Moon.

I listened to Remus lock all of the locks, and I heard him retreat down the stairs to the basement where he would transform.

As I walked upstairs, feeling lonely, I heard a howl as my godfather transformed, and was reminded that even though I wouldn't see him for two whole days, I wasn't alone.

_A/N 4: I know, short but I liked the idea so tough. Sorry it took a while, I updated my Charmed fic, and I had a bit of trouble with my good friend Mr. Block. Thankyou everyone who's sticking with this, especially BlAcKdAuGhTeR, and I hope to update soon!_


	22. Thankyou

Chapter Twenty-Two – Thankyou

_A/N: Sorry I took so long to update. Mr. Block came to call and we had long lengthy discussions about this chapter._

Azkaban never changed. The only things that I ever noticed change in the five years I'd been visiting the prison were the Ministry workers running the small office. The feeling the Dementors brought about stayed the same, the fireplace stayed the same, the Meeting Room stayed the same, and even the duvet on the sofa in the Ministry office stayed the same.

The Ministry worker in the office this year was the same red haired worker I'd performed magic against when I'd visited to tell Dad that Mum had died. My breath caught in my throat when I realised this, and the man was staring at me with an expression I'd only experienced once before: fear.

"Miss Black," he said, politely, although I could detect the fear in his voice. "How nice to see you again."

Liar, I thought, glad I was able to hold onto my thoughts now. "I'm allowed to see my Dad today, and your permission doesn't matter," I said.

Remus cleared his throat behind me, and I allowed his thoughts to enter mine. _You couldn't be a little nicer?_

_I attacked this guy before,_ I objected. _He's still holding a grudge; I can sense it._

_Tara, _Remus warned, as the Ministry worker began checking details.

_He tried to stop me from seeing Dad! _I closed off my mind and sat down on the sofa, waiting for confirmation that my father was waiting in the next room. I didn't want to be in a bad mood when I spoke with him, I got to see him so little every year.

A short while later, I was allowed to enter the Meeting Room. I smiled at Remus before I passed through the door, and once again, for the fourth time in my life, I was face to face with my father.

He looked, if it was possible, worse than he had a year ago. He was paler, and a lot thinner. It scared me how ill he looked. And I could tell things were getting worse for him.

"Hello, Tara," he croaked, in a voice I could tell hadn't been used once in the three hundred and sixty six days it had been since I'd last been here. "Has it really been a year already?"

"What do you mean, already?" I asked. I knew he was a supposed criminal, but I felt sorry for him. I felt that no one deserved to be shut up in a place like this for eleven years, and watching my father slowly get worse only confirmed that.

"You said you'd be here once a year," Dad said. "I didn't think a year had passed yet."

I nodded. "It has. Does time really pass that slowly for you?"

"I have no concept of time in this place," Dad spat. "I never see the day, or the night. I don't have a watch. I don't know how to keep track of the days, or months, or years."

"You'll see me once a year," I told him. "You'll be able to identify at least one day a year."

Dad sighed, and seemed to be thinking about this. I found myself wanting to go and hug him, but I knew the Ministry workers and Remus were watching, and if I did that I'd lose my rights to see Dad even for this one hour. But the fact that I wasn't allowed to touch him was torturing me right now.

"How's school?" he asked, bursting in on my thoughts.

Where to start? I thought to myself. "We have a twat of a Defence teacher, something called the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and people are turning up petrified." I paused for a minute. "My friends are trying to find out who's doing it," I whispered. "But we don't know anything. We just have theories. Same as the next person I guess."

"I can't say I know anything about a Chamber or Secrets," Dad said. "I could help with your … what was it … 'twat' of a Defence teacher?"

I smiled. "He's more interested in himself than anything else. I don't think he'd notice someone practising Dark Arts if they stood up in front of him holding a sign saying, 'Hey! Lockhart! I'm practising Dark Arts!'"

It was Dad's turn to smile now, and in the brief moment he did, I saw a flicker of light in his dark, almost lifeless eyes. A flicker of happiness. It made me smile again.

"Any boyfriends?" Dad asked, a mischievous tone in his voice,

I hadn't given much thought to the opposite sex. The guys I knew treated me more like a sister, or a close friend than anything else. The guys I got along with anyway. "I'm thirteen."

"I still like to know what my daughter gets up to in her spare time," Dad said.

"Not boyfriends," I replied. "I don't really think about that sort of thing. I'm doing what you told me to do, Dad. I'm having fun."

These words seemed to make Dad happier than I'd ever seen him before, and that made me feel guilty because as soon as he was placed back in his cell the happy thoughts would be dragged away from him by the Azkaban guards. This would be happening before long.

"Do you like the fact that I have permission to see you once a year, Dad?" I asked, wanting to know the answer.

"I don't like the fact that you have to come here to see me," Dad replied, honestly.

"You're avoiding the question, Dad," I said. "I want a yes or no answer."

"Yes." Dad wasn't lying. I could tell. "The few visits I've had from you make staying here that little more bearable, knowing I'll see you again."

I felt my eyes fill up, and the door behind me opened and the Ministry worker entered to take Dad back to his cell. "Bye, Dad," I whispered. "I'll see you next year."

Dad nodded to me as he was taken back to his cell. I waited until he'd gone, before taking some deep breaths to calm myself, and leaving the room. Remus was sat on the sofa, waiting for me, the same as he'd done last year. "Are you alright?" he asked, sounding concerned.

I nodded, not wanting to speak. We travelled home by Floo Powder, and when we got there I asked Remus, "What made you decide to get me permission to see Dad?"

Remus looked at me, surprised. "Do you not want to see him?"

"I like being able to see him. I just … I want to know what made you decide to let me go and see him?"

Remus kissed my forehead in a fatherly way and said, "Because he's your father. That's why. You deserve a chance to get to know him."

I nodded. "Thankyou," I said. I reached for him and hugged him. "I don't know where I'd be without you," I added. I meant it. Remus was my legal guardian, and the person I trusted most on the world, and I loved him like a father.

"You'd probably have ended up with Molly and Arthur," replied Remus.

I smiled, and said it again. "Thankyou. Thankyou for taking care of me the last five years."

_A/N 2: Tara and her father. I love the "I'll see you next year" line hehe. I thought that was appropriate. Back to the story next chapter. I love everybody!!!_

_A/N 3: I almost forgot …. Clue number four … There are one or two hints already :P_


	23. Great Big Yellow Eyes

Chapter Twenty-Three – Great Big Yellow Eyes

_A/N: I'm sorry I'm taking so long. I have a presentation to finish and actually do, and a 1500 word essay on evolution to write (why?????), and a taxonomic workbook and identification key to put together, so I'm afraid updates are going to be few for a while. Stupid university lol._

_A/N 2: The rest of CoS is going to disappear this chapter. You'll see why :P_

_A/N 3: Clue Number …. Is it five? – It's not Percy. You probably could have guessed that but I wanted to eliminate him from the running._

I returned to school in the New Year to find out I'd missed quite a lot over the holidays. Malfoy was seemingly not the culprit behind the attacks on Muggle-borns, and Hermione had turned into some kind of cat person because she'd accidentally tried using cat hair in the potion instead of something from the person she was hoping to turn into.

I called in with Harry and Ron to see Hermione every day with homework; she was determined to keep up with the work.

"If I'd sprouted whiskers I'd take a break from work," Ron had told her, but she didn't seem to want to listen.

For about a week after the holidays I was tormented by the same voice I'd heard before Christmas, this time however, instead of saying that they were the one behind the attack, they were thinking things like, _I need to get rid of it … then I won't be able to attack anyone else. _It sounded to me like whoever I was hearing the thoughts of was definitely the one attacking people but now they wanted to stop, and by destroying something they had they'd be able to do so.

I was baffled for a while, but just after a week into the new term the voice disappeared, and as that disappeared, something else appeared, in the form of a diary.

Harry, Ron and I had left Hermione in the hospital wing, and as we were heading back up to Gryffindor Tower to complete our own homework, we heard Filch complaining; "… even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore …"

We followed the sound up to the floor above, where we discovered the corridor stretching from one end of the castle to the other was at least half flooded.

"It looks like Moaning Myrtle's flooded the bathroom again …" I muttered; we could hear her wailing from behind the closed bathroom door.

"Now what's up with her?" asked Ron.

"Let's go and see," replied Harry, wading through the ankle deep water and pushing to door to Myrtle's bathroom open. Ron and I shrugged at each other before following our friend.

"Who's that?" snapped Myrtle, miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?"

Baffled, the three of us paddled across to her cubicle and Harry asked her, "Why would I want to throw something at you Myrtle?"

"I don't know!" Myrtle shouted, emerging from her toilet with a fountain of even more water to add to the flood. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks its funny to throw a book at me."

Harry tried reasoning with Myrtle, but Myrtle immediately became defensive and snapped, "Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it. Ten points if you can get it through her stomach, and fifty points if it goes through her head! Yes, what a lovely game!"

"Who threw it at you anyway?" I interrupted, trying to stop Myrtle's stream of shrieking.

"I don't know. I was just sitting in the U-bend thinking about death, and it fell through the top of my head." Myrtle sniffed, and pointed over to a sink, where a small soaking black book was laying on floor, and as Harry moved over to pick it up, Myrtle wailed and dove back into her toilet.

Ron had prevented Harry from picking up the book initially, telling him about things Mr. Weasley had come up against in his job, but Harry simply moved around Ron and picked it up, shaking some of the water off.

"It's a diary," he said. "It belonged to a T. M. Riddle …"

"Hang on," Ron intervened. "I know that name … T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

"Bloody hell, the boy has a brain cell," I exclaimed.

Ron glared at me before saying, "Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention. I burped slugs all over it."

"Yummy," I said, watching Harry peel between the pages of the diary.

"He never wrote in it," he said. Harry turned the diary over and read, "Vauxhall Road … he must have been Muggle-born to buy a diary from Vauxhall Road."

XXX

Harry showed the diary to Hermione the night she was released from the hospital wing, no longer bearing any cat features. She was enthusiastic about the diary maybe having hidden powers, but I'd already scanned it and I hadn't been able to detect anything incredible about it.

"If it has it's hiding them very well. There's nothing amazing about the diary except the fact that its fifty years old, Hermione. And that the person who owned the diary got an award fifty years ago for special services to the school," I said.

"_And _the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?" Hermione asked.

Comprehension dawned on Harry's face, and it hit me in the face; this diary dated back to the last time the Chamber had been opened. Maybe, even though I hadn't been able to detect anything special about the diary, maybe there was something about it that could tell us about the last time it was open, and how it was closed again.

Hermione and I tried several methods of trying to get the diary to reveal something to us, but to no avail. Nothing happened.

Nothing happened at all.

There were no more attacks on anyone, the voice that had been in my head at night was gone; I thought maybe the Heir of Slytherin or whoever was behind these tasks had given up. Although I was still curious about who the voice had belonged to. I still hadn't told the other three about the voice, and didn't feel any need to. But it didn't stop me wondering who it had belonged to.

Two weeks later, a few days after Valentine's day, Harry told us he'd written in the diary, and that it had written back to him, and he'd found out that Hagrid had opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago.

This news came as a bit of a bit of a shock for all four of us. We knew Hagrid had a 'fondness' for large and dangerous creatures, but to imagine him trying to get in the Chamber and setting whatever was in there loose on students was difficult for us even to comprehend.

"Riddle might have got the wrong person," Hermione suggested, unconvincingly.

"We always knew Hagrid had been expelled," Harry said. "And the attacks must have stopped after Hagrid got kicked out otherwise Riddle wouldn't have gotten his award."

This conversation went around in circles over whether or not we believed Hagrid had in fact opened the Chamber or not fifty years ago, but eventually we decided not to talk to Hagrid abut it unless there was another attack.

XXX

Easter brought about something new and interesting to think about – our subject choices. Remus had written to me telling me what he had decided to do, but reminding me that I should go with subjects that would help me get where I wanted to be in life.

I'd never given much thought to what I wanted to do before, and what sort of subjects to go with. The idea had occurred to me to teach, but of course that would mean getting experience between finishing Hogwarts and getting a job. And then there was my ambition to rid the world of werewolf prejudice.

In the end I opted for Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy, thinking at least I had something that could be fun and not too taxing, and something that seemed relatively interesting to study.

XXX

The day Harry was due to play Hufflepuff at Quidditch, he told us that someone had raided his stuff the night before, and that Riddle's diary had gone missing.

"That's weird," I said. "It would have had to have been …"

"A Gryffindor," Harry finished. "I know."

I shook my head. "No. Before Christmas I heard a voice in my mind; someone saying something about needing to stop attacking people. Then I didn't hear it over Christmas, and then when I came back here I heard it for a bit then it stopped again. I heard it again last night too, saying that they were going to be in trouble because it was going to start again."

"Does it say things like kill and rip and tear?" asked Harry. Then he shouted aloud and said, "There! Was that it?"

I stared at Harry in wonder and said, "No, because I didn't hear anything."

Hermione clapped her hand to her head and exclaimed, "I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!"

As she sprinted away up the stairs, I told the boys I'd find out what Hermione was up to and meet them on the pitch for the match.

I chased after Hermione and found her in the library frantically pouring through a big heavy volume. "What's going on Hermione?" I asked. "What do you understand?"

"The voice," she whispered, excitedly.

"My voice or Harry's voice?" I said. "There's two voices now remember?"

A look from Hermione silenced me and she muttered, "Harry's …" as she flipped through the book before quietly exclaiming, "Yes!"

I moved around the table to look at the page she was looking at. "_Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it._" I read in a whisper. "Harry's a Parselmouth," I added, looking at Hermione.

"Exactly." She looked ecstatic. Then her face fell and she said, "How does something this size get around the school? Harry's been hearing it everywhere." I watched the genius work as her face suddenly lit up again. She pulled a quill from her bag and scribbled "pipes" on the bottom of the page.

"Hermione? What are you doing?" I asked as she tore the page out of the book.

"We need this," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a mirror. "And we need this to look round corners. If the Basilisk's on the move again we can't look it straight in the eye because if we do, then we die."

She went to leave the library as I muttered, "Makes sense."

As I followed her, she was telling one of the Hogwarts Prefects what she'd discovered, and the three of us, preparing to make our way to the Quidditch pitch, placed Hermione's mirror around the corner and, holding our breath, we looked into it and up the corridor.

There was nothing there.

The three of us breathed a sigh of relief and began walking up the corridor.

"Are you sure you aren't crazy?" the prefect asked us as we stopped at the next corner to use the mirror.

A pair of great big yellow eyes was visible in the mirror before the world went dark.

XXX

I blinked in the bright light, and realized I was lying on a bed in the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey was standing over me and she said, "Right, that's you done. Just take it easy sitting up." With that she disappeared.

I took a few breaths and let my eyes adjust to the bright lights of the hospital wing. When they had adjusted, I began to sit up, but my limbs felt like they hadn't been used for a while. As I sat up, I looked over to where Madame Pomfrey was giving something to someone else – Hermione.

As Hermione looked over at me she said, "What happened?"

"As a guess?" I said. "I think we got Petrified. And I think we've just been given the cure. Trust me, stay still as long as possible," I added, as Hermione made to move. "It hurts less."

Professor McGonagall came into the hospital wing as Madame Pomfrey was just waking up Colin Creevey. She told us what Harry and Ron had done, and Hermione jumped up to hug me, cheering, and forgetting that I'd warned her about moving too fast.

We entered the Great Hall later that night cheering for Harry and Ron, that they'd solved everything by themselves, and Ginny told me she'd been told about the voice I'd been hearing in my head and how it had been her.

I didn't care.

I was having too much a good time to worry about anything.

XXX

The end of term came too quickly. It wasn't long before we were all aboard the Hogwarts Express to go home for the summer. Ginny told us Percy had a girlfriend; oddly enough the Prefect Hermione and I had managed to save the life of, and just before we passed through the barrier to go back home, Harry gave each of us a scrap of paper with a phone number on, making us promise to call him.

So, grinning and laughing happily, we re-entered the Muggle world for the summer, which, although I didn't know it yet, was going to be the hardest yet.


	24. Pumpkin Juice

Chapter Twenty-Four – Pumpkin Juice

_A/N: Thankyou everyone who's sticking with this! Now let the fun begin!!!! And yes I know, random title, but I think it fits because there is one small scene I just pictured from the word go._

My room had quite literally been turned upside down. I was planning on giving Harry his promised phone call, but being me I'd mislaid the slip of paper with his number on. I let out a sound of frustration and heard something shatter behind me. Turning round to see what it was, I realized I hadn't checked my pin-board over my desk. I forgot about the shatter, and struggled over to my board, which was covered with so much rubbish I wouldn't have been able to spot it if it was fluorescent pink.

Not quite giving up hope, I ruffled through the random things I had pinned to my board, and came across a photo I thought I'd lost a long time ago.

I tugged it down and sat down, cross-legged on the floor, staring at the photo. In the photo was my mother and father on their wedding day, Harry's father with an open bottle of champagne in one hand which he occasionally took a drink from. James Potter had his arm around a pretty red haired woman, who had to be Lily Potter, Harry's mother. She was smiling and laughing. Remus and another man, who I'd been told was Peter Pettigrew, the man Dad was supposed to have killed, and they were standing at the edge of the photo, holding glasses of wine.

My hand moved up to my neck, and I closed my hand around my Mum's locket. I watched my parents in the picture, kissing each other and smiling and waving, and I felt a small tear in the corner of my eye.

A trip from outside my door made me look up, and I grinned as I saw Remus recovering from a trip up a stair. "Stealthy, Remus, really."

"What happened in here?" he asked, looking over my room. "Did you blow something up?"

I groaned, looking around and said, "No. I lost the piece of paper with Harry's number on it. I promised I'd call and the bit of paper's gone. But I did find this." I handed the old photograph over to Remus and he smiled.

"I remember this day," he said. "Your Mum found out she was pregnant with you the next day. Good times …" he murmured, his voice getting quieter.

The awkward silence was interrupted by a noise from down in the kitchen. I picked myself up from the floor, bounced down the stairs and found Errol, the Weasley owl, lying on the table with a letter in his beak. The noise we'd heard was Errol knocking the jug of pumpkin juice over. I pulled the letter away from Errol and waved my arm, clearing up the mess on the table.

Remus cleared his throat behind be and said, "You know you shouldn't over-use your magic don't you?" He placed my photograph, which for some reason he was still holding, down on the table.

"Yes," I replied, but using magic to clean up the kitchen was easier than trying to get pumpkin juice stains out of the tablecloth." I tore the letter open and read through it quickly. "I don't think I need Harry's phone number any more," I said, looking up from it.

"Why?" Remus queried, as a further two owls flew in through our window. One bore the _Daily Prophet_; the other carried a letter addressed to Remus. He paid the newspaper owl, and chose to open his letter first.

I sat at the table and poured myself a glass of pumpkin juice as I said, "Ron tried phoning Harry, but the idiot shouted down the phone and piss- I mean really annoyed Harry's uncle. It might not be such a good idea."

Ron's letter also contained a small newspaper clipping, telling us his Dad had won a load of gold from some prize giving thing. "Awesome," I whispered. I reached for the _Daily Prophet _and noticed the Hogwarts seal on the back of Remus' envelope. "Why are Hogwarts writing to you?" I asked, curiously and nosily, pulling the newspaper towards me.

"I have a job," Remus whispered.

"At Hogwarts?" I asked. "Brilliant. Doing what? Wait! Let me guess. Defence against the Dark Arts teacher?"

Remus looked at me incredulously.

"It's the only available job post there," I grinned, unrolling the newspaper.

I took a sip from my glass of pumpkin juice as I read the headline and promptly spat it out over the front page.

The jug of pumpkin juice on the table shattered as I spat my mouthful out. I let out a cry of surprise and my glass also decided to explode.

Remus took the newspaper from me and said, "Calm down, Tara. Something else might blow up. What made all this happen?" he added, unfolding the paper.

I remained sat in my seat, thinking about what I'd read at the top of the newspaper, but I moved away from the table and held my hands above the table so I wasn't touching anything. They were shaking like crazy.

"Remus," I said, but my voice didn't sound like my own. "What am I going to do?"

Remus too was now staring at the front page of the paper, only nothing exploded while he read it. I was too afraid to move, in case I blew the whole house up, but my mind was filled with the heading I'd read at the top of the newspaper:

_SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN_

_A/N 2: Only short I know, but there is in fact going to be at least another chapter before Tara goes back to Hogwarts – she has a summer job!_


	25. Please Don't Ask

Chapter Twenty-Five – Please Don't Ask

After the initial shock had passed about Dad's breakout, I found myself wondering about what I'd tell Harry, Ron and Hermione about him. They all knew my Dad had been in Azkaban, and it wasn't going to be easy to hide the fact that he was my father from them considering the fact that we both shared the same surname. I decided not to bring it up unless they asked, but I was still concerned that he'd broken out of prison … it didn't exactly back up what he'd told me about being innocent.

Remus had agreed to take the job in Hogwarts, and Snape was going to be making his Wolfsbane Potion for him while he was there – I felt kind of bad about this, because I knew perfectly well how to make the potion, but Remus was worried that other students might find out why I was making it, and then the whole school would find out and werewolf prejudice would emerge.

I'd managed to obtain a summer job at Flourish and Blotts in the first week of the summer. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, I just remember leaving Diagon Alley after buying potion ingredients for the Wolfsbane with a job starting two weeks into the summer for a month, which I would be able to return to every summer.

Working in Flourish and Blotts was fun; it was simple work for a thirteen year old – stacking shelves, taking orders, simple things like that – but the people I worked with were nice and enthusiastic. I guessed they probably took a lot of young witches and wizards on for the summer. I only worked in the afternoons for five days a week, two hours a day, but I enjoyed working there because it meant I was earning a bit of money.

I'd been working there for about four weeks and was due to be finishing in five minutes when the person I was dreading bumping into entered the shop – Harry.

He looked surprised to see me there, replacing books on the shelves and asked me, "What are you doing?"

"I work here," I said, avoiding his eyes. I knew I probably had a guilty look on my face.

"Since when?" Harry asked, amazed.

"Since about four weeks ago," I smiled and braved a look at him. He looked different to the last time I'd seen him; I'm not sure what it was, but there was something different. "You after your Hogwarts books?" I added, knowing what our required Care of Magical Creatures text was.

The book was so vicious; it'd tear your hand off rather than be read. Many of the other workers at the shop asked me to obtain a copy out of the cage we left the books in, because my powers allowed me to handle the books without actually touching them and getting hurt.

As I glanced over to the cage, Harry said hurriedly, "Yes, but I already have a copy of _that_ one," pointing over at where the books were fighting with each other.

"Oh thank Merlin," I replied, breathing a sigh of relief. I tugged the list from Harry's hand asking, "What else do you need?"

I began wandering the shelves, pulling books down for Harry, when I noticed him looking at the poster for Sirius Black behind the counter. My breath caught in my throat, scared he was going to ask me the question, but instead he diverted his eyes and looked instead at a book on a table in the Divination section.

"That," I said, drawing his attention away from the book and placing his books on top of the counter, "is all of your books, and the end of my shift." I smiled and took Harry's gold and placed it into the till. "Where are you off to now?" I added.

"I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron."

"I'll wander that way with you," I said. "That's how I'm getting home."

I ran to the back of the shop to let Mr. Timothy know I was leaving, and emerged again to find Harry staring at the poster of my father again. "Why are you staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" I asked, trying to take his attention away from Dad.

"I sort of blew up my aunt," Harry replied, picking his books up.

"Do you mean literally blew her up, like, boom? Or do you mean blew up like a balloon?" I was smiling now; this was the sort of thing I usually ended up doing without realizing it.

Harry smiled too as he said, "Balloon."

I slapped him on the back and said, "Well done. How did you manage that one?"

"I'm not completely sure," Harry replied. "I got angry and it just sort of happened. I didn't mean to blow her up."

"I know the feeling," I told him. "Believe me."

"What have you done in total then that's unintentional?" Harry asked, grinning.

I groaned. "Fifth birthday party I breathed fire, I conjured a blue force field and haven't actually been able to conjure it up since, the whole telepathic communication thing? That was a pain in the arse. I've blown things up too …. Boom blow up for me though … I'm still actually working on that one." We were approaching the Leaky Cauldron now. So far I'd been lucky, but I imagined when we got back to school and the teacher's were calling me 'Miss Black' my secret would soon be out.

I said goodbye to Harry, and Flooed back home to an almost empty house, with a wolf currently taking residence in the basement.

XXX

On the last day of the holidays Ron and Hermione came into Flourish and Blotts for their books. Both of them looked really brown from Egypt and France respectively, and again, they didn't notice the Sirius Black – Tara Black connection. Of course this made me inwardly question Hermione's intelligence.

Hermione and Ron weren't the only people I saw that day. I saw Molly and Arthur Weasley with Ginny, and while Molly Weasley and Ginny were looking at books, Mr. Weasley spoke to me quickly about my father.

"Have you told Ron, Harry or Hermione about your relationship to Sirius Black?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

"Are you crazy?" I asked him. "Sorry," I added quickly, knowing how offensive I could be without meaning it. "But, no, I haven't. If they work it out, then I'll admit it, but I don't see why I have to tell them anything if they don't want to know."

"At least you've thought it through," Mr. Weasley admitted. "I am sorry that you have to go through all of this, however."

This was the argument I'd been using to convince myself that no one would figure out that Sirius Black was indeed my father, and it seemed to convince Arthur Weasley too, but it didn't stop me being scared about people finding out, and judging me by my father.

I spoke to Remus again that night, about what to tell people if they asked about Dad, and another burning question was do I tell anyone that the new Defence Professor is in fact my adoptive father? I decided to draw the same conclusion about this matter as I did about Dad; if they asked, then I'd admit it, but if they didn't then they didn't.

All I was thinking as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep that night was, please don't ask … please don't figure it out.

I was dreading this year of Hogwarts.


	26. The Truth Is Safe For Now

Chapter Twenty-Six – The Truth Is Safe … For Now

_A/N: Sorry about the wait again, I've actually been doing my work (976 out of 1500 words on my Evolution essay squee) and this chapter I found incredibly difficult to write for some reason. Enjoy!_

_A/N 2: Did I put a note in about no more clues for Tara's future partner? Because I have another one for you lol … Clue number Merlin knows – Your biggest hint is in the Never a Dull Birthday chapter :P_

The next morning Remus and I arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters early, so that Remus could find a compartment and catch some shut eye before the rest of the train got filled up with swarms of students. We ended up going into the compartment at the very end of the train, and within five minutes of getting our luggage onto the luggage racks, Remus had fallen asleep.

Before long the train was filling up, but no one seemed to come down our end of the train. Not until Harry, Ron and Hermione did anyway. I smiled when I saw them and they opted to sit in the compartment with me and Remus; I was waiting for them to ask me who he was, and sure enough, Ron asked, "Who do you reckon he is?"

"Professor Remus Lupin," I replied, at the exact same time as Hermione said, "Professor R. J. Lupin."

How Hermione had known this was beyond me, until she pointed out that Remus had his name stamped across his suitcase. Harry and Ron didn't seem to notice that I'd answered at the same time.

"Wonder what he teaches?" Ron asked, looking at Remus suspiciously.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," I said. "It's the only vacancy isn't it?"

"Well, I hope he's up to it," Ron said, with a hint of doubt in his voice. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off doesn't he?" I was about to fly to Remus' support when Ron added, "Anyway, what were you going to tell us Harry?"

As Harry said. "It's about Sirius Black," my heart sunk; Harry must have found out about Dad. I braced myself to have to tell them the truth, and Harry continued; "He's supposed to be after me."

I considered this in my head; from what Dad had told me, this idea was ludicrous … Dad had told me he believed he was innocent, and I'd sensed the truth coming from him, even if I wasn't fully convinced about his innocence. But on the other hand Harry was only mentioned by me as a friend from school; Dad had never spoken about him, just listened. I was in two minds about this piece of news – either Dad had been telling me the truth the entire time and he'd found out something about the guy he was supposed to have killed, or he'd lied to me and he really was after Harry.

I'd gotten lost in my own thoughts when Hermione invaded them asking, "Are you alright, Tara?"

Unfortunately she surprised me, and the glass in the door of the compartment shattered noisily. I groaned a "Shit," making sure Remus was still asleep; I muttered a "_Reparo_" and the glass repaired itself.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, staring at me."

"Sorry," I apologised. "I've been blowing things up left, right and centre lately. Just …. Don't make me angry, or make me jump or anything, actually, is probably best. I'm still working this one out. Anyway …" I paused for a minute and took a deep breath because what I was about to say was going to really hurt me inwardly. "I'm fine; I'm just worried about Harry. If …" (Don't think for a minute it wasn't difficult to say 'Black' instead of 'Dad') "If Black really is after him then you'll have to be really careful Harry. Don't go looking for trouble will you?"

"I don't go looking for trouble!" Harry exclaimed. "Trouble usually finds me."

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" asked Ron in a funny voice.

Ron and Hermione now seemed terrified of my Dad, and I realised then that I'd probably never be able to tell them who Dad was, because they'd become afraid of me too; they'd judge me by who my father was.

"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," Ron was saying. "No one's ever done it before. And Black was a top security prisoner."

I shifted uncomfortably and awkwardly in my seat. Everyone calling Dad 'Black' was not going to help me keep my secret, especially once we got to school and the Professors began calling me 'Miss Black' … It wasn't going to be easy.

Just then a noise started whirring away somewhere. It was a Sneakoscope Ron had given Harry for his birthday: they were supposed to make a noise when someone untrustworthy was around, and I had a feeling it was whirring because of this huge secret I was keeping locked up inside of me. "Put it away," I whispered. "You might wake him up," I explained, nodding towards Remus.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," Ron said, making me feel comfortable talking for the first time this journey. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

This led to a comfortable discussion for a while about the village we now had permission to visit … or that most of us had permission to visit anyway. And the discussion didn't stay comfortable for long either.

As soon as Harry told us he wasn't allowed to go, Hermione leapt to the conclusion that maybe this was a good idea with Dad out 'on the loose' as she put it and Ron suggested that he wouldn't attack Harry if we were there with him. I thought to myself, if he is after Harry maybe I'll be able to make a difference.

This train of thought didn't last very long, however, because Hermione decided to let her cat out of it's carrier and Ron instantly became very defensive of his rat. But Crookshanks merely wandered into the corner of the compartment and went to sleep.

After to food trolley had been, the three people who I'd least wanted to see appeared at the compartment door; Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. But, to my enormous surprise, they said nothing to me about Dad, and instead were frightened out of insulting us by the fact that Remus was in the corner. Even Malfoy wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight under a teacher's nose.

The train carried us further towards Hogwarts, but it began slowing down before we were due to arrive at the school. "What's going on?" Ron asked, and all the lights suddenly went out. I shook my right hand and a gentle light began glowing from it, so we could just about see what was going on.

"Do you think we've broken down?" asked Harry.

Ron was wiping a clean patch on the window with his sleeve. "There's something moving out there. I think people are coming aboard."

The compartment door slid open and Neville and Ginny fumbled their way into the compartment. They were scrambling for seats when Remus finally woke up. He ignited a small handful of flames in his hand and I shot him a questioning look, wondering if he knew what was going on.

But I needn't have.

The compartment was suddenly filled with deathly cold air; air that felt familiar. My breath was being breathed out as small clouds, and as I pulled my arms tighter around me to try and keep warm, memories of Mum's death was brought to the surface of my mind.

"Dementors," I whispered to Remus, looking at him.

I got a startled look from Hermione as the compartment door slid open and there stood a hooded figure illuminated by Remus' flames. I'd never actually seen a Dementor before, but I knew the feeling you got when you were around one from all of my visits to Azkaban. I wished I'd never seen one.

"Harry?" I heard Ron whisper behind me. I turned to look and Harry was having some sort of fit in his seat. He'd gone almost rigid; his breath was coming in short bursts and he was twitching madly. I put my hand out to touch him, but he slid to the floor where he continued convulsing.

"No one is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks," I heard Remus saying. Then the light from something silver washed over us all, and the Dementor left.

I leant back in my seat and sighed, memories and feelings from the day in the garden were again just that – memories. Remus looked at me as if to ask if I was OK. I sent back an, _I'm fine. Worry about Harry. _I sighed again, before moving off my seat and down to the floor next to Hermione and Harry. Hermione was slapping Harry's face – not especially gently either.

When we finally did rouse Harry, the first things he asked were what happened, and who had screamed.

"No one screamed," Ron told him, looking rather nervous, but Harry remained convinced that he'd heard screaming.

Remus broke a huge slab of chocolate into pieces behind us and handed each of us a piece. Where he'd gotten the chocolate from I didn't know, but the first thing I did was eat the single square he'd given me (he knew I didn't eat much).

Harry didn't touch his piece. "What was that thing?" he asked instead.

"A Dementor. One of the Dementors of Azkaban," Remus told him, before getting up and leaving.

"That explains why you knew what was going on, Tara," Hermione said. "You've been to Azkaban before."

I nodded, and said to Harry, "Trust me Harry eat the chocolate. It's amazing how much better something cocoa-y and sugary will make you feel."

Harry took a bite and I saw some colour come back to his cheeks. "What happened?" he asked, looking up at us all.

We told Harry what had happened and he immediately began wondering why he's collapsed like that, when nobody else had. He remained quiet the rest of the journey – I knew Harry was thinking about why he'd collapsed, I let myself get lost in my own thoughts about my father, and how I was going to keep it from my best friends that the man who was supposedly after Harry was my Dad.


	27. Boggart, The Sorceress and the Wardrobe

Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Boggart, the Sorceress and the Wardrobe

_A/N: I am so sorry about the delay in updating. I'm studying for exams and have been on two holidays; one to my caravan with my family and one to my boyfriend's caravan with his family, then I went on a field course in France for a week and I was all but dead afterwards. I'm alive now though and writing again ….Just don't expect updates for a while because I need to pass this year._

My fears increased as the year begun. For some unknown reason, the Black-Black connection didn't seem to cotton on with anybody – either that or people just assumed that Black was a very common surname and didn't suspect anything of it. And yet the lack of questions still had me on edge; I was less afraid of people asking me if I was Sirius Black's daughter, but I became more afraid that someone did know and was hushing people up, and that was the part that had me on edge.

I needed to talk to Remus. Otherwise I thought I might go insane. No one seeming to make a simple connection confused the hell out of me, and I just wanted to ask Remus what was going on. I hated not having answers, and although people not avoiding me because of my parentage was a good thing, I didn't think it was that difficult to figure out that I was related to Sirius Black considering we shared the same surname.

I decided to try and catch a minute with Remus after our DADA lesson with him, but what Remus had chosen for us to do in the lesson almost made me forget to speak to him quickly at the end of the lesson.

Remus arrived to class slightly later than the rest of us. He told us we were having a practical lesson, and I caught him glancing at me smiling. Wondering what he had planned for the lesson, we followed Remus to the staff room where Professor Snape was sitting. As we entered, Snape got to his feet and said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this." As he approached the door, Snape added, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Neville went bright red. The Potions lesson we'd had before lunch had been a tough one. Not only was there news going around that my father had been spotted not too far from Hogwarts. Malfoy had given me a look that frightened me into believing he knew about my father, but he only seemed interested in tormenting Harry. I was silently counting my blessings as Hermione had been telling Neville how to correct his potion which had gone horribly wrong. Obviously the correcting had gone fine, but Snape had deducted points from Gryffindor anyway.

And now he was bullying Neville in front of another teacher.

However, Remus kept his cool and said, "Actually I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation, and I'm sure he will perform it admirably."

I smiled to myself. Remus had a way of making a bad situation seem like a much better one. Remus asked the class to follow him to the end of the staff room and as we followed him the wardrobe at the back of the room gave a sudden quiver, making many students jump.

_A Boggart? _I asked him. I hoped he didn't expect me to battle the Boggart. Mine was always the same, ever since I was young I'd been terrified of the same thing, and I didn't like the idea of other people knowing was I was afraid of.

"Nothing to worry about," Remus said, calmly, as the cupboard shook again. "There's a Boggart in there. Now, Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks." He smiled and looked at me as he said, "I once met one that had lodged itself inside a grandfather clock."

Yeah, I thought. The grandfather clock at home when Mum was still alive. I remembered running screaming from the living room when I was seven years old because the form the Boggart had taken had terrified me so much.

"So," Remus continued, "the first question we must ask ourselves is what is a Boggart?"

Hermione raised her hand and answered straight away, "It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

Remus continued talking about the Boggart for five more minutes, and then taught us the charm to repel the Boggart. We were also asked to think of something amusing to turn our Boggarts into. I'd never managed to find a way to make my Boggart amusing, but I could at least make it not so scary.

Neville looked terrified as he stood by himself in front of the wardrobe. But he wasn't entirely unprepared. He'd rolled up the sleeves of his robes and had his wand ready. There was definitely some fight in him.

"On the count of three, Neville; one – two – three," Remus flicked his wand at the handle of the cupboard and Professor Snape came striding out. Neville began backing away, but then as Professor Snape glared down upon him, Neville said, "R-r-riddikulus!"

There was a roar of laughter from the class as the Boggart Snape was suddenly wearing a long green dress, a vulture-topped hat and a large red handbag. The Boggart-Snape looked around confused as Remus called forward Parvati. Her Boggart became a mummy who tripped over a bandage. Remus called a few people forward, and as he did I felt a small tendril almost asking my mind for access. I sensed that the thought was coming from Remus and allowed his thoughts to enter my mind. _Do you want to tackle the Boggart?_

I sighed and looked towards the front of the class where Dean was stepping forward to battle the Boggart. _OK _I thought quietly.

"Excellent!" Remus called as Dean's severed hand was trapped in a mousetrap. "Tara, forward."

I felt like my insides were being squirmed around in my stomach. I took deep breaths and raised my left hand. I watched the Boggart shift through varying forms and thought desperately, please let people understand.

The Boggart stopped changing its shape as suddenly as it had started. I heard shocked gasps from behind me and could have sworn I heard Ron mutter, "Bloody hell."

I was looking at a mirror image of myself.

Well alright, not quite a mirror image. The 'me' I was facing looked like me, but was floating a foot off the floor, eyes and hair a jet black, whereas normally they're brown and blonde respectively. The Boggart 'me' had hands by its sides crackling with energy too.

I took a good look at the Boggart 'me' as it raised its hands and begun to utter a spell. I pushed my left hand forward and cried, "Riddikulus!" before the Boggart 'me' could start causing any damage.

The Boggart's eyes changed from jet to brown, and the energy disappeared from its hands. As the energy vanished, the Boggart crumpled to the floor. I backed away not wanting to turn around and see what other people were thinking, and Remus called Ron forward as though nothing unusual had happened.

I felt a hand touch gently on my arm and turned to look at Hermione. "Are you OK? She mouthed. I looked over to where Ron was removing the legs from his spider and nodded. I watched the legless arachnid roll across the floor to Harry and with a sudden stab realised his Boggart was probably going to be …

"Here!" Remus called, hurrying forwards.

I drew my breath in and became even more panicked when I saw the white orb hanging in the air in front of him. I looked quickly around the class and saw many confused looks, and next to me was Hermione's calculating look. I hoped for Remus' sake she didn't find out he was a werewolf, and that if she did she didn't tell anyone.

The lesson ended with Neville displaying his wonderful cross-dressing Snape for us again, and Remus asked if he could speak with me before I left. I remembered wanting to talk to him anyway, and so I agreed.

The class filed out and I looked at Remus. "What are you thinking?" I asked in a hushed voice. "Full Moon Boggart? Dead giveaway you know!"

"Tara," Remus said calmly. "I'm sure people thought it was a crystal ball or something."

I wasn't so convinced, but decided to keep Hermione's reaction to myself, and changed the subject before I could blurt it out. "Why are people so stupid?"

Remus laughed. "What do you mean 'stupid'?"

"No one's asked about …" I paused and lowered my voice. "No one's asked about Dad yet. I thought everyone would be asking and I'd be struggling as to whether or not to tell them I am related to him. Why aren't they asking?"

"There could be a hundred reasons, Tara. Maybe they think Black's just a common name. Or perhaps they don't want to know if he's your father or not …."

"You mean they're scared?" I asked. "Scared of what?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Remus replied hastily.

I was beginning to get stressed out. "I didn't jump. I stepped. You were the one who implied it anyway!" I snapped. There was a pause before I muttered, "Sorry. I just don't like not understanding what the hell is going on in people's heads."

Remus smiled and said, "You know what I think? I think you worry too much. I think if you stop worrying then it won't seem like people are too afraid to ask you."

"But what do I do if they do ask," I asked, looking at the floor.

"That," Remus replied, "is up to you."

I sighed, jumped off the table I was sat n and headed to lunch, only feeling slightly better; truly realising there wasn't just my father being an escaped convict to worry about.


	28. Out

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Out

_A/N: Sorry about the wait. I needed motivation. How awesome is the new movie???? Have seen it three times and I love it. The book's amazing too. I love it so much … "One more Master Harry? For luck?" I adore Kreacher now. The only problem is now that between all seven books every single character I thought of as my favourites have been killed off. It should be called "Harry Potter and the Deaths of Those Vicki Loves" Anywho …._

My temper was fraying. Dad had decided to attempt to break into Gryffindor Tower during the Halloween feast, and now people were skirting around me in the corridors between classes, muttering behind their hands in hushed voices every time I passed, and every time someone mentioned Dad's name out loud I was blowing things up unintentionally into a million pieces.

Every ounce of my being was telling me to go to Remus and ask him how to cope, but I couldn't add something else to his burden right now. The Moon was approaching, and I began to notice the undeniable signs of exhaustion and illness coming over Remus. The day before the Gryffindor Quidditch match against Hufflepuff was the first day of Remus' transformation, and the Professor covering Defence against the Dark Arts was –

"Snape?" Ron whispered to Hermione and me as we entered the classroom ahead of Harry. "What the hell's he doing here?"

We sat at our desks and took out our books as Harry ran into the room saying, "Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I …."

There was a pause as Harry noticed who was coving Remus' lesson, in which Snape replied, "The lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down."

"Where'd Professor Lupin?" Harry asked.

"He says he is feeling too ill to teach today. I believe I told you to sit down." It wasn't a question.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing life threatening. Five more points from Gryffindor and if I have to ask you to sit down again it will be fifty. As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far –"

Well no, I thought. He was too busy worrying about his transformation.

Hermione immediately began to tell Professor Snape what we'd covered, but he shot her down. "I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. Today we shall discuss … werewolves."

My head shot up and I was glad there was nothing fragile in the room for I was sure had there been a minor explosion would probably have occurred. The bastard was trying to get students to tag onto Remus' condition. I might not have worried if we didn't have Hermione in the class, but she was able to make two and two equal about six different answers and prove that every single one was correct.

Once we'd all turned to the correct page, Snape asked, "Which of you can tell me how to distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" I could have sworn he was looking in my general direction as he asked that, but I remained vigilant and did not raise my hand, even though I had the right answer on the tip of my tongue.

"Anyone? Miss Black, perhaps?" he asked.

Bastard, I thought, before saying, "Well twenty-eight days out of the month the werewolf's human and the real wolf can't do that." Snape looked about to take some points from Gryffindor so just as he opened his mouth to do so, I continued; "There's also the tufted tail, the longer shout shape and enlarged pupils, although I'd imagine those are difficult to see unless there's a true wolf sat next to the werewolf. The werewolf will attack humans and ask questions later whereas a true wolf will probably think about it first."

I could feel Hermione looking at me strangely and was determined not to meet her gaze. Her hand shot into the air when Snape asked us to tell him the difference between an Animagus and a Werewolf, and when he took points from Gryffindor because Hermione answered out of turn Ron retaliated and landed himself in detention.

When the bell rang for the end of the lesson, everyone waited until they were out of earshot before bursting into an angry fury about Snape. It made me smile as I thought about what Remus would say if he could hear everyone. I glanced back towards the classroom and wondered where Remus was spending the Full Moon.

XXX

"I hope Harry will be alright," Hermione was saying to me the next night in the bathrooms next to the girls' dormitories.

"Why wouldn't he be?" I asked, wringing my sodden clothes out over a bathtub. "It's a broomstick; he could get another couldn't he?" Harry had fallen from his broom during the Quidditch match earlier in the day when the Dementors guarding Hogwarts approached the match.

Hermione shrugged and said, "But he's never lost a match before. And to lose it because he fell off his broom …"

"Hermione, Harry's probably more broken up about his broom than losing the match. The match wasn't his fault. He probably thinks he could have held a tighter hand on his broom as he passed out."

The only other person in the bathroom besides Hermione and I left and Hermione seemed to follow her, but closed the door instead.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Can I ask you something?" Her tone was serious. "I don't want you to tell anyone, I just want a second opinion."

I wrung my hair out over the tub and ran my hands through it to dry it as I said, "OK."

"Remember the day we fought the Boggart?"

"This better not be about me Hermione," I warned her, remembering my Boggart.

"No, it's about Professor Lupin," she said.

Could be about me then I guess, I thought to myself before a horrible thought struck me. Could Hermione have figured Remus' secret out?

"What did his Boggart look like to you?" She paused awkwardly.

I took a minute to think of an answer. "I dunno," I lied. "A silvery ball thing? Why does it matter?"

"I thought … maybe … maybe it looked a bit like a full moon." Hermione paused; I think she was waiting for my reply. When she didn't get one she continued. "Professor Lupin's not around at the moment, and I checked the lunar calendar and it's the full moon at the moment." I didn't answer, nor did I look at Hermione. I had no answers prepared for her, even though I knew what was coming next. "Do you think he could be a werewolf?"

The mirror behind the bath shattered. I repaired it, took a deep, quiet, calming breath and turned around. "Hermione, werewolves aren't dangerous except for those three days out of the month where they are the wolf and besides, there's a potion now to allow the werewolf to keep its mind when it transforms which didn't exist thirteen years ago and there's not really any reason Professor Lupin could be a werewolf is there?" I realised I'd said all this in one breath a second too late.

Hermione had a slight smile playing around the corners of her mouth. "You know, I though you knew a lot about werewolves when you spoke to Professor Snape yesterday."

I didn't answer again. I had nothing to say. I don't even know what was going through my mind.

"So do you think Professor Lupin could be a werewolf?" Hermione asked, gently.

"Like I said before," I said. "Werewolves aren't as dangerous as people think."

"You're avoiding the question." Hermione was looking at me. "There was actually something else I've noticed this term. And I think it might be connected to this." I stared at Hermione completely lost. "You haven't had many letters at all compared to the last two years."

"What does my letter getting have to do with Professor Lupin?" I asked, trying desperately to keep calm.

"You knew his name on the train."

"So did you."

Hermione shook her head. "It said R. J. Lupin on his trunk. You said _Remus _Lupin."

I thought hard about the train journey. How did Hermione remember this stuff? I couldn't for the life of me remember what I'd said on the train.

"He's Remus isn't he? Professor Lupin's your godfather."

"Hermione please," I said, but she cut me off.

"I'm right aren't I?" she asked gently.

I sighed and said, "You have to promise me you won't say anything to anyone. Not even Harry and Ron know about Remus. I don't mind them knowing he's my legal guardian, but I swear, Hermione, if anything about his … condition gets out, things will be worse for him."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione asked.

"Promise me, Hermione," I begged her.

"You know I won't say anything. I just don't understand why you never mentioned you were living with a werewolf. Surely Ron must know?"

"No, he doesn't. And you want to know why? Because werewolves tend to be very prejudiced against in the Wizarding World. It's a bit like Muggle racism. Werewolves aren't all dangerous; look at Re- Professor Lupin," I corrected myself. "There's nothing about him to suggest he's evil or anything. I've lived with him since I was eight and there nothing …. Well …. Not much wrong with me. This is the first real job he's had in years, Hermione. Please don't let it get taken away from him?"


	29. An Apology to You, The Reader

A grave apology.

I am aware that it has been over a year since I updated this fic, and while I have full intentions of completing it, all has ground to a halt I am afraid, and I am now entering exam time again so have intentionally (yes you read that right) left all things Harry Potter at home.

I am incredibly sorry for this giant delay, and cannot apologise enough, and no reason will make up for it, but I promise I will try and get updating again in the Summer.

Many apologies, Vicki x


	30. I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THIS FIC

I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THIS FIC!

I really do want to continue, but I am currently completing my final year of university and I simply haven't found the time to update. This summer, however, is all to myself, so I can write to my heart's content and hopefully provide you with lots of fun chapters. I'm very sorry about the delay and all the promises about updating, but this time I really mean it: from June 2009 I am free!


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